


The smell of coffee and home

by new9daze



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Social Issues, first fic, tw for homophobia in later chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-09 02:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15257499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/new9daze/pseuds/new9daze
Summary: Ha Sooyoung runs a café somewhere in Seoul in which everyone can be themselves without being afraid. Everything seems to be perfect, the girls start bonding and everyone is happy. Heejin, Hyunjin and Yeojin are no longer afraid. Haseul and Jungeun are both idiots who are crushing on each other. Jinsol and Yerim are just trying to help (they fail). Kahei is always there for Hyunjin. Hyejoo is oblivious and clumsy. Chaewon is whipped. Jiwoo and Sooyoung are certainly dating. Will their happiness last forever?





	1. Eden Café

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is my first fic ever, and English is not my first language so I hope this isn't too bad hahah.  
> Also, this is kind of inspired by a manga called Shimanami Tasogare, it portrays perfectly how homosexuality is seen in Asia so I thought I could get some good inspiration from it. Read it if you have time!  
> Oh, and please, constructive criticism is REALLY appreciated, so don't hesitate to leave some feedback!
> 
> With that said, hope you enjoy and also...STAN LOONA!!!

The sound of the guitar echoed through the café’s almost new brick walls, the smell of alcohol, coffee and sweat mixed in the air. A night like many others, anyone could say. But it was true that the life in the café had become quite livelier than it already was, not that that was something bad. In fact, from the counter it seemed like nothing else mattered, as Sooyoung took a sip of her self-made Americano.

Customers were all focused on that night’s performance, as the three girls who played not only were they really good, but they also were regulars everyone knew about. It wasalmost as if they were watching a close friend perform. So there were no longer orders to be served, and the kitchen was more than forgotten at that point.However, one of the café’s waitress rushed to the back of the counter, her face full of worry and dark strands of her hair covering her face.

“Is something wrong Hyejoo?” Sooyoung asked calmly, as she put her cup back in the sink.

Her composed reaction not matching at all with Hyejoo’s anxious gaze. Sooyoung didn’t need to ask her twice, as she saw the younger girl grabbing a mop with the utmost speed.

She let a soft chuckle. “Again?” The older girl asked trying to sound a little bit more serious.

It was the fourth time of the day Hyejoo had dropped something, not to say Sooyoung almost had lost count of how many times it had happened in a week. But in the end it was impossible to blame Hyejoo, even if she was the one to blame. Everyone just had this soft spot for her.

“I’m really sorry, I’ll clean it right now” Hyejoo replied, slightly bowing. The words coming out of her mouth as if they were already memorized from saying them so much.

Suddenly Jiwoo appeared from behind her, with a grin that only meant that she was just about to tease her.

“Maybe it’s too late for you to be still up, are you sure you don’t need some sleep?”

Hyejoo didn’t seem too cool with it though, and mouthed a quiet “shut up” without looking at her and kept on with her task.

“Aww, come on Hyejoo! You know I’m kidding. Need some help?”

“It’s okay” Hyejoo replied silently. “I can handle it myself”

Jiwoo’s self-assurance was crushed when she saw Chaewon making a sudden appearance and offering her help, which Hyejoo accepted instead of hers.

“Hyejoo you should be more careful. Let me help” Said Chaewon in her usual kind voice while she took the mop from Hyejoo’s hands.

“I knew it. Son Hyejoo, you hate me don’t you?” Jiwoo sobbed dramatically.

The two girls turned their back to her and started laughing, and Sooyoung that was enjoying their antics silently from the other side of the counter, eyed Chaewon as if she was just about to tease her.

“It’s not that she hates you” Sooyoung started, with a smug grin. “She just prefers her over you. Chaewon is just so charming. Don’t you think, Hyejoo?”

Hyejoo looked totally oblivious to Chaewon’s pretty noticeable blush, and couldn’t find an answer to what Sooyoung said, so she just went with a “???” face.Jiwoo immediately shut up and understood what Sooyoung was trying to do, and if that implied teasing Chaewon or Hyejoo she was up for it. Let’s say that everyone in the café knew about Chaewon’s obvious crush on Hyejoo, everyone except Hyejoo. So now it was kind of a tradition to tease Chaewon like that in front of Hyejoo and her not having a clue of what was going on.

“Well, well, I will leave you two alone then” Said Jiwoo winking at Chaewon, who just rolled her eyes.

Sooyoung and Jiwoo fell silent when the two younger girls disappeared in the crowd, looking at each other with a smirk followed by a high five. Then they both looked at the girls performing in front of them, forgetting about Chaewon and Hyejoo for a moment. They had known those three musicians since everything started, they were probably the first customers that visited Eden Café. At first they looked like some diligent music students who were really passionate about music and were as gay as Sooyoung and Jiwoo (which is pretty difficult). In the end the only thing they got right was the “being as gay as Sooyoung and Jiwoo” part. They were complete airheads though. Well, at least they gave some life to the café.

The band, called Odd Eye Circle, was formed by their leader and main vocalist, Kim Jungeun, who also played the guitar, Jung Jinsol the drummer and finally Choi Yerim, vocalist and keyboardist.

“Their new song is pretty cool, it makes me want to sing along until my throat hurts, somehow” Jiwoo said softly, genuinely complimenting the girls.

“Yeah, everyone seems to think the same as you, look at Heejin, maybe someone should stop her from damaging her voice” uttered Sooyoung. Regardless of her concern, she was kind of happy for her. She enjoyed seeing her like that.

“Heejin has grown so much, you know? Since when you first brought her here. Gosh I sound like a grandma.” Said Jiwoo silently.

Sometimes Jiwoo liked to contemplate things in a serious way, very differently of her usual lively self. And suddenly she seemed to become sensitive and fragile. This was one of those things Sooyoung loved about her, and when they had those kind of meaningful conversations where they could really talk about their feelings sincerely Sooyoung really appreciated it. Both had met so many different people while working at Eden Café that sometimes they invested a lot of time helping people out and they didn’t have time to talk about themselves, not that that was a problem, since both of them had agreed in that kind of life.

Helping people out, that’s what they did. It wasn’t a regular café at all. There was Heejin, who Sooyoung welcomed when she found out she was having problems at school, then there were people as Haseul and Yeojin, or Kahei and Hyunjin that discovered the café by themselves and decided to stay. That things couldn’t be any happier was a thought that crossed the mind of both girls who stood silently behind the counter.

“Yeah, but look at Haseul. I’m impressed she is able to stop herself from drooling, but I’m sure her eyes are about to fall at this rate. It impresses me even more the fact that Jungeun doesn’t notice, though” Jiwoo said, her voice giving hints that she was kind of pissed off.

“Why are they like this? I’m tired of playing cupid”

The music finally stopped and the three girls smiled while trying to catch their breath. Jungeun went to the center of the stage and held her microphone once again.

“I hope you enjoyed tonight’s performance! I see you are having a good time, it makes us really happy! We will be releasing our new EP ‘Blindfold’ next week, so please look forward to it. See you next time!” Jungeun’s voice echoed through the café and the ovation seemed like it wouldn’t stop, which made the girls smile from ear to ear.

“I’ll buy it for sure! Would you give me your autograph right!!!” Yelled Heejin, not caring about the condition of her throat at all.

“We literally talk every day, you dumbass” Noted Yerim while sticking out her tongue, clearly enjoying the attention.

Little by little people started leaving the café and going back home. As always the last ones to leave where Odd Eye Circle, who stayed to thank the staff.

“You were amazing, girls” Greeted Chaewon patting Yerim’s back.

“Next time, tell Sooyoung to make your free time longer, It doesn’t count as listening to us if it’s while doing the dishes” Stated Jinsol trying to tease Sooyoung, who just played along.

“Yeah, and maybe I should consider a pay raise too”

“Hey, Chaewon deserves it, don’t you think?

” Sooyoung laughed quietly. “Believe me, if I could I would. You know Eden Café is not at its best right now”

Jinsol pouted and patted Chaewon and Hyejoo’s head, messing their hair up.

“By the way, where did Jungeun go?” Asked Sooyoung looking over the almost empty place. Everyone fell silent.

“I saw her and Haseul talking outside” Jinsol muttered while raising an eyebrow.

“Oh” Jiwoo looked as she was about to scream, even if her answer was kind of quiet.

“It’s finally happening?” Yerim didn’t really buy it.

 

* * *

 

Haseul played with the sleeves of her coat and stared at the ground every five seconds, as she wasn’t capable of looking at Jungeun’s face for more than that. Jungeun wasn’t any better, though.

“You were really good!” Haseul greeted, trying to sound as the Haseul everyone knew and not the ‘completely -whipped-for-Jungeun Haseul’

“Thank you… To be honest I could have done much better, I even sang out of tune once…”Jungeun played with the strands of her hair, trying not to stutter.

“Really? Don’t worry, I didn’t even notice. Don’t be so ha-hard on yourself!”

_Haseul tell me you didn’t just stutter._

After some seconds of the most uncomfortable silence, Jungeun spoke. “I’ll work harder form now on, thank you… It’s getting dark, do you want me to take you home or something?”

_‘Or something?’ Are you serious?!_

“Do-Don’t worry, I live pretty close! You should get going too. See you tomorrow?” Haseul stepped backwards, preparing to get out of there as soon as the conversation (if that counted as one) finished.

“Sure! See you…”

Haseul turned around in a blink of an eye and was about to leave when she heard Jungeun about to say something again.

“Wait, I-” Jungeun completely froze, and all her will disappeared as soon as she looked at Haseul’s face again.

“Never mind, good night Haseul” This time she spoke in a much calmer voice and Haseul could have sworn it sounded sad.

“Good night”

_Another wasted chance._

 

* * *

 

 

**The morning of the next day**

“Hey Sooyoung, do you think someone could have a hangover of drinking coffee?” Jiwoo asked while stumbling.

Sooyoung groaned while looking for the café’s main door keys. “It’s 6 a.m, you are just tired”

After a few seconds of finding the right key, the door opened. They were both ready for another day in Eden Café, their minds where already set to ‘work mode’ and all they could think about was seeing the faces of their not only customers but also friends, and the new stories they had to share. That café had somehow become a home for all them, as cheesy as it sounded.

That’s why when they stepped inside the local and saw a completely different reality they couldn’t believe their eyes. They didn’t want to.

Chairs and tables completely smashed, glass spread through the café’s floor, kitchen totally ruined, painted walls, the speakers, the microphone, the stage were the previous night three girls had done a performance was burnt. Maybe that’s not enough to describe what Sooyoung and Jiwoo were seeing with their eyes. Their workplace or rather, their home was completely destroyed.

“What…What the fuck has happened?” Jiwoo muttered, feeling shivers through her body.

 

“Jiwoo, call the police now!”


	2. It's okay!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay so let’s go back in time. This chapter revolves around Haseul, Yeojin and a bit of Vivi and Kim Lip too!

**Five months before (June)**

 

“Oh, good morning Haseul” Jiwoo carried her tray carefully while using her other hand to take the small notepad from her pocket. “The same as always?”

Haseul greeted Jiwoo back with the same enthusiasm, thinking briefly of what she should order this time. For some reason she felt like trying something new.

“I want to try that iced tea Sooyoung makes. Everyone keeps telling me to try it and the heat is killing me, so it’s about time I do.” Jiwoo smiled at that, quickly writing it down on her notepad.

When she finished she dashed to the counter and Haseul could hear her shouting her order to Sooyoung, who was just getting out of the kitchen.

_She sure loves her work._

Haseul took out her phone and started checking her messages as she always did. Suddenly, the café’s door burst open, and a blonde girl entered the local, letting the heat of the summer seep through too.

“God, I hate summer!” The girl grunted while scratching her scalp. Haseul smiled at the stranger’s whines, because honestly, who didn’t hate June in Seoul?

However, when Haseul looked closer, she remembered the girl from other times she had seen her in the café, was she maybe a regular there? She was pretty cute though, she thought.

“Jungeun!” Greeted Chaewon from the other side of the café. Jungeun smiled, taking a seat in one of the tables by the window. Her forehead was covered by sweat and she waved her hand in order to relieve the annoying heat. Chaewon appeared in front of her table in a blink of an eye, offering the girl a glass of water.

“What would I do without you? You even put some ice in it. Seriously, bless your soul.” Jungeun grabbed the glass and took a big gulp dramatically.

“Where are Jinsol and Yerim? It’s strange seeing you without them” Chaewon laughed at Jungeun’s relieved expression after tasting the refreshing drink.

“Jinsol is helping Yerim with math, just the thought of all those numbers is enough to kill me.” Her expression saddened.

“I’m glad summer vacation is around the corner” Said Chaewon, taking the empty glass from Jungeun’s table. “I’m looking forward to new music from you, girls”

Jungeun smiled from ear to ear. “You are seriously our number one fan” Chaewon gave her a thumbs up before turning around in order to head back to the counter. Jungeun’s expression turned dubious for a second and called Chaewon just before she left.

“Hey, one last thing”

“Hm?”

“See that girl from there? You know her?” Jungeun talked cautiously.

Chaewon raised an eyebrow. “Haseul? Yeah, at some point she became a regular here”

Jungeun then made an “I see” expression and fell silent.

“Why~? Did she catch your eye?” Chaewon teased, forgetting she had to go back to the counter.

Jungeun panicked, waving her hands vigorously. “It’s not that! It’s just that I’ve seen her plenty of times here, I was just wondering…”

Chaewon laughed for the umpteenth time that day. “Looks like Sooyoung’s ‘gay recruitment’ is going smoothly. I don’t know where she came from though. She is pretty nice; she even introduced herself the first day she came, as if we were at school or something”

Jungeun chuckled softly, watching the girl silently from afar. Then she processed what Chaewon just said. “Wait, is she into girls?!”

“Yeah, aren’t we all gay in this café though?” Chaewon said with a grin in her face. “Well, I’ve got to go. Go speak with her, you silly”

Jungeun was left there, looking at nothing and seriously considering if she should talk to her, what could go wrong? Meanwhile, Haseul was taking a sip from her iced tea while looking at her phone, but somehow she looked kind of bored. Before she knew, Jungeun was already standing up, and at that point she just couldn’t go back to her seat. She gulped once and head to Haseul’s direction. Jungeun knew that if she had considered it for just another second she would probably have given up. Sometimes it was better to act without thinking, she thought. Yet Haseul was so focused on whatever she was reading in her phone that she didn’t notice the presence next to her. She even missed several times when trying to grab her mug while still looking at the screen. Jungeun cleared her throat once, and that’s all it took to bring Haseul back to reality.

“Hi! I’ve seen you a lot around here lately! Do you know Sooyoung, by chance?” For some reason, Jungeun managed to say that without sounding like a total creep. “I’m friends with her”

Okay, maybe that took Haseul by surprise, good that she knew how to act at times like this. She stared at Jungeun for five seconds before actually saying something. Haseul wasn’t complaining, though. In fact, the girl looked even cuter now that she was closer.

“Y-Yeah, although I have just met her recently. A friend told me about this café.” Truth be told, Jungeun was pretty impressed by the fact that she even answered back. She couldn’t miss this chance.

“I see! I’m Jungeun by the way, I come here often too” Haseul smiled and gestured Jungeun to sit with her.

 

_Well, that was pretty easy._

 

 

“I’m Haseul, but probably Chaewon has already told you, hasn't she?”

Jungeun froze up. It was impossible for her to have listened to her conversation with Chaewon, how did she know then?

Haseul couldn’t stop the grin that showed in her face at seeing Jungeun’s expression. “So I was right” Haseul laughed briefly. “Are you all like, friends? I mean, this café is mainly visited by the same people, and I’ve seen them talking to the staff plenty of times”

Jungeun was taken aback at first, but relaxed after seeing that Haseul’s purpose wasn’t just to laugh at her. She thought maybe Haseul was feeling out of place. “Yeah! So then you know Chaewon and Jiwoo too. That’s why I wanted to talk to you, I thought: ‘who is this girl nobody has talked to me about?’”

Okay, maybe Haseul blushed a little at hearing that. And maybe Jungeun gave herself a high five in her head at how smooth she had just sounded. Thank god Jiwoo made a sudden appearance and blessed them with her presence. Her eyes opening wide at seeing the two girls together.

“So you know each other!! It’s really a small world we live in.”

Jiwoo sounded so happy that neither of them wanted to tell her they have just had their first conversation ever. So they just looked at each other with a smile that was as awkward as one of pure amusement.

“By the way, we have to set your next performance date, Jungeun” Jiwoo announced, focusing on what she had to do instead of crying because both of her friends knew each other. However, her announcement left an oblivious Haseul trying to decipher what she was talking about.

“I already talked to Sooyoung about it; we settled it somewhere the middle of August. Thank you for letting us use the café again, we really owe you a lot.” Jungeun gave Jiwoo a sincere smile of gratitude that made Jiwoo smile too and pat the blonde’s head.

“Okay then. Well, I think I should go back to work and stop procrastinating” Jiwoo disappeared in an instant, leaving Jungeun and Haseul alone again.

“I heard something about a performance?” Haseul didn’t hesitate to ask the girl, which was more than glad to answer.

“Yeah, I’m part of a band with two more girls, we play here often.” The younger girl stated with a trace of pride in her words. Haseul listened carefully; she had always been a big music nerd, so she was more than interested in what the other girl had to say.

“That’s really cool, I’m glad I come to this café often”

“Well, don’t expect too much, we’re not that good” Blushed Jungeun, who started playing with her hair and not being able to look at the older girl’s face.

“Then, we’ll see that in the middle of August then” Haseul replied with a kind smile on her face.

Jungeun smiled too. “So, are you coming?”

“Of course I am, now I’m intrigued. Also, I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of things of this café” Haseul said playfully, while crossing her arms.

Taking one last sip from her drink, Haseul got up and grabbed her purse. “I think is time for me to go back home, they are probably waiting for me, it’s almost lunch time” Jungeun also got up, muttering a soft goodbye to Haseul, who waved her hand at her.

Maybe they were both smiling like idiots, not that they noticed though. But Chaewon and Jiwoo surely did.

Haseul tried to get back home as quickly as she could, not wanting to be under that sun for too long, it seemed as if she stayed there just for another second she would melt. So when she finally made it and felt the cold breeze of her house’s aircon hit her she let out a relieved breath.

“I’m home!”

 

* * *

 

 

“Haseul I need to talk with you” Haseul’s younger brother approached her with a serious expression she hadn’t seen before. And suddenly she kind of started getting nervous.

“Is something wrong?”

Her brother sat on the couch, looking as he didn’t know where to start, but eventually, he let a breath and looked at his sister’s face.

“I need your help. Actually, it isn’t me.” He scratched his head, trying to find the right words. “Do you know Yeojin, from my class?

Haseul blinked several times. “How can I not know her? You have been friends since elementary school. She is practically part of the family.”

“Well, she is having some trouble-”

“Is someone bullying her?!” Haseul yelled, almost jumping from the couch.

“No, no! It’s not that! Just let me finish.” Haseul fell silent then and tried to listen to her brother calmly.

“I was talking with her yesterday, and she just started crying…” Haseul could see her brother’s own eyes getting watery. “She said something about maybe liking girls and how it’s something bad, and-”

Haseul understood immediately, and didn’t want her brother to continue his explanation, as it obviously pained him seeing his almost all-life friend being hurt.

“I understand. Do her parents know something?” Haseul asked composedly, trying to be as natural as possible.

“I don’t think so” The younger boy seemed to have calmed down. “I was thinking maybe you could talk with her, you know? To tell her it’s okay and that it’s not something you should feel shame about.”

Haseul listened carefuly, trying to get an idea of Yeojin's current situation. She knew that things shouldn’t be rushed, and that Yeojin should deal with it alone, she thought that everyone should be able to think about their life freely. But she knew Yeojin too, and she knew helping her would make her feel a lot safer.

Haseul had always thought of Yeojin as her little sister, and just thinking about how she must be feeling right now pained her too. Also, she kind of know what did it feel like to be in her position. Haseul would be lying if she said Yeojin didn’t remind her of herself at times.

“I would talk to her, don’t worry okay?” Haseul patted her brother’s head with a smile, and she could feel her brother relaxing under her touch.

“Thank you”

 

* * *

 

 

As expected the next day was as hot. In fact, it seemed as if the summer heat had become even worse. So Haseul felt bad for the students who were heading home at the moment. She knew how they felt because she was at the very front of Yeojin’s high school too, and seeing tons of students fanning themselves with handmade paper fans made her remember her own school days.

She didn’t know what was making Yeojin be so late, but standing by the shadow of a tree didn’t ease the sticky feeling of sweat that started forming in her forehead at all.At least, a feeling of joy took over her when she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. It wasn’t Yeojin, though, she wasn’t even a student. It was a friend of hers, well, her _best friend_ , that was probably heading home after her practices. Haseul smiled at the sight, Kahei’s dream had always been to become a sports teacher and she finally was about to make it. She waved her hand as hard as she could, trying to get her friend’s attention. Kahei finally noticed her, and quickened her pace. It’s been a while since they last met, as Kahei was too busy, nonetheless they still messaged each other almost every day.

“Haseul! What are you doing here?” Haseul face lighted up, she was really happy to see her.

“I’m waiting for a friend, Yeojin. Do you remember her?”

“Of course, I saw her hanging out at your house many times. How has she been?”

It was a bad time to make that question, Haseul thought. But she knew how reliable Kahei was, it was impossible for her not to trust her with almost everything.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. How’s everything going? Are those kids behaving well?”

Kahei let out an exhausted laugh. “It takes all sorts, really. But the thing is that the basketball team’s coach hasn’t been feeling well, so I kind of ended up having to stand in for him.”

Haseul held her head in disbelief. But truth be told, she didn’t really know if those were good or bad news. It made Kahei laugh at least.

“It’s okay, it’s just for the remaining time. Vacation is around the corner.”

“You’re right.” Haseul smiled again. “It seems like you are doing fine”

Kahei hugged Haseul for a second, patting her back softly. “We really need to meet up some day. There’s a lot I want to tell you, and I’m sure you do too.”

Haseul nodded forcefully.

“Well, I’ve got to go. Don’t forget to message me!” Kahei’s silhouette eventually disappeared among the thick haze that spread through the city’s street, and Haseul’s attention was directed to the school’s gates again. This time, though, she didn’t have to wait any more. She finally spotted Yeojin, with her backpack hanging from her shoulder and her messy steps.

When Yeojin looked up she immediately noticed Haseul, who was waiting for her, smiling at her as she always did. Haseul’s brother was right, she looked kind of down.

It was not the first time Haseul waited for Yeojin when classes ended, but Yeojin couldn’t help but wonder why she chose to come today from all days.

“Haseul?”

Haseul greeted Yeojin with the usual energy she had around the younger girl and threw her arm around Yeojin’s shoulders. “Why don’t we grab something to eat? Well I… may have a discount on your favorite restaurant”

“You aren’t serious” Yeojin’s face seemed to light up at Haseul’s words and her pace automatically quickened at the thought of food, completely forgetting about the reason why Haseul was there.

“Yes I am. Come on, I’m hungry!”

 

* * *

 

 

Haseul looked silently at Yeojin that was chewing on her meat with a contented grin. Haseul wriggled on her seat, trying to find the words to directly ask Yeojin what happened, however it was way harder than she thought.

When Yeojin looked up to match Haseul’s stare, she stopped eating and put down her chopsticks at seeing her friend's concerned expression, but before she could say anything Haseul opened her mouth.

“Is something wrong?”

Yeojin played dumb after hearing this, but she was obviously surprised by Haseul’s words, as her expression indicated a slight discomfort. Haseul didn't took long to catch sight of this.

“Yeah. Why?” It was hard to describe it, but for some reason that was a point of no return, as Yeojin’s answer's tone and expression clearly told Haseul that something was indeed wrong.

Haseul decided to be as frank as possible then. “Look, you know you can count on me, right?” The older girl said with the most caring voice she could manage.

Yeojin clenched her fists and diverted her gaze, understanding what Haseul was refering to. Suddenly, the restaurant’s aircon seemed to have stopped working.

“Did your brother tell you?”

Haseul gulped, and her expression softened. She nodded slightly. “Listen, it’s okay-”

“It is not”

 

Haseul was the one whose body tensed now.

“Yeojin, who ever told you it wasn-”

Yeojin’s eyes filled with a mixture of rage and hopelessness that made Haseul’s heart sink.

“It’s just gross. People like that are just... I’m just confused, there’s no way I can be like that” Yeojin let out a soft sob. “Your brother should have kept his mouth shut…”

“It is not gross, Yeojin!” Haseul panicked, trying to reach Yeojin’s hand to only end up being pushed aside.

“Yes it is! People like that are just creeps who want to shove their gross lifestyle down everyone’s throats!”

Haseul wanted to say something back, she really did. But at her current state she would probably end up sounding cold and angry. She felt really bad for Yeojin, she knew exactly what she meant by those words, but on the other hand a heavy rage took over her at the thought of whoever or whatever had forced that idea on Yeojin’s head.

She blamed the world they lived in once again. It was a strange feeling. She hadn’t ever done that since she learnt how to love herself.

 

“Yeojin, do you think I’m a bad person then?”

 

Yeojin looked at her with watery eyes. “I d-don’t. How… how could I?”

In a matter of seconds, Haseul got up from her seat. “Then, I think you are old enough to think for yourself.” She put some money in front of her. “I think that’s enough to pay the bill”

Yeojin looked shocked at Haseul’s sudden actions. “Wait-”

Haseul breathed in and went back to speaking in her usual caring voice, “There’s somewhere I want to take you to. It’s just a café, there are people like you” She patted Yeojin’s shoulder softly. “But don’t ever forget I’m here for you, okay?”

Yeojin was left alone, not knowing exactly what had just happened. Not knowing exactly what to do next or what to think. She then connected the dots.

 

_I've just hurt Haseul, right?_

But maybe she was right; maybe she should start thinking for herself.

 

 

Haseul was nothing more but exhausted. She felt all her fears of the past coming back again, she truly resented them. Honestly, she didn’t think Yeojin would accept her offer. It was impossible for her to go somewhere she wasn’t going to feel comfortable in. Besides, maybe she was really just confused.

Haseul didn’t know what to think, she just wanted Yeojin to be okay.

When she arrived home, she tried not to talk with her brother, Haseul thought it was the best for the time being. It was especially difficult to sleep that night, for both Haseul and Yeojin. Was it really so difficult to live in this world without having to hurt each other like that?

 

* * *

 

 

As expected, Haseul woke up pretty early the next morning. She ruffled her hair lazily and got up. The sun was sneaking through her window and she wished she had lowered the blinds a little bit more before going to sleep, she would have wanted to sleep some more.

She thought maybe she should go to the café. Perhaps that would make her feel better after last day’s conversation with Yeojin. She put her clothes on and applied some light makeup, to be honest she wasn’t really in the mood for going out so early, but being in home was too boring.

When she opened her house’s door she didn’t expect to see her, so she suddenly froze up.

“What are you doing here?” She didn’t intend to sound that bad.

“I’ve been waiting for you for half an hour, let’s go!” Her voice sounded pretty annoyed _and_ annoying for so early in the morning, Haseul’s head hurt.

“Where?”

Yeojin turned her back to Haseul and started walking.

 

“To that café you talked to me about, where else?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how hard was to write Haseul and Yeojin's conversation. I hate angst.


	3. How do you see the glass?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Heejin and Hyunjin’s turn this time.  
> People are so different from each other, even if they are feeling the same pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kinda angsty (I’m so sorry Heejin, I’m so so so sorry) but they are happy in the end, I promise.  
> Also, this chapter contains themes related to bullying, so please don’t read if you are sensitive about it.

**June (last week of school)**

There wasn’t anything as pleasant as the smell of rubber balls and the sound of sneakers gliding on the school’s gym floor, that was what Hyunjin thought while she scored for the umpteenth time in a day.

Hyunjin had always been passionate about sport, there was something about it that made her feel at ease and forget anything that was bothering her at that moment. So she was really happy when she was accepted in the high school’s basketball team. Well, everyone knew that it would have been the biggest mistake not to choose Kim Hyunjin for the team. It wasn’t just that, she was as brilliant at sports as she was at studies, unfortunately many people were envious of her and she couldn’t do anything about it, nonetheless, that bothered her to no end. Hyunjin didn’t like all that negative attention, she lived her life silently without ever bothering anyone, so she found annoying that people couldn’t just do the same.

On the other hand, she felt like if she did something barely out of place she would be easily targeted, and as she liked living her life problems-free she ended up having to be a goodie-two-shoes against her will.

So lately some rumors within the basketball’s team about Hyunjin started, and she was kind of annoyed by them. But on the other hand, she was kind of amused because the rumors were partly true, she tried to pay them no mind for the moment, though, as long as it didn’t affect the team.

She decided that the next time she scored would be the last as she really needed to get back home as soon as possible, and when she did, she saw some of her teammates talking in the distance while not-so-subtle pointing at her.

Hyunjin couldn’t believe it. Everyone was making a fuss because _apparently_ Hyunjin had been staring too much at the other girls in the locker room, so now she had become the ‘lesbian one’ in the basketball’s team, to popular belief.

Well yeah, maybe she was gay, but she didn’t have that much free time to go checking her teammates out.

At least they could have some decency and not talk right in front of the new coach’s face, she thought. Maybe they did so because: One, they didn’t care about Hyunjin’s image at all, two, they probably underestimated the woman because she was new and young. What they didn’t know though was that Kahei, the new basketball team’s coach, was indeed hearing every single thing, and she wasn’t as dumb as they thought her to be.

“If you don’t cut that crap right now I won’t let you play in the next match, got it?”

She was really something else.

Hyunjin didn’t really hear what was going on, but found strange the girls’ face sudden change and smiled for herself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Maybe I’ve got used to this café by now. Also, I’ve never seen someone as cute as that Chaewon girl before” Yeojin took a big sip from her strawberry smoothie, eyeing the girl as she took another table’s order.

Haseul thanked the gods. At the end, Yeojin was just in a childish denial that took only a visit to the café to finally accept herself. Now that Haseul thought about it, she laughed at the anxiety that took over her when having to deal with Yeojin’s gay awakenings from a couple of weeks ago.

It wasn’t the first time Yeojin had given her such a headache though, and she seriously needed to find a way to deal with this kind of behavior if she didn’t want to die of pure concern.

“How many more smoothies are you going to drink? Do you think I’m rich or something?” Haseul hit Yeojin’s head playfully, which made her almost spill the drink.

“Hey, watch out! Can’t you see that if the table gets dirty poor Chaewon will have to clean it?”  
Haseul rolled her eyes and decided to pay no mind to Yeojin’s antics. (Although she was truly happy for her)

“What’s with that face?” Yeojin started, little by little increasing the volume of her voice. “You are way worse with that girl over there-!”

Although Haseul had seen that coming, she didn’t imagine that Yeojin would be capable of actually POINTING at her when she was just at a distance of 10 meters, and determining the volume of her voice it was almost impossible for Jungeun not to have heard that. So Haseul did her best to reach the other side of table and quickly put her hand over Yeojin’s mouth.

“Whatever, but please don’t be so loud” Haseul pleaded, still covering the younger girl’s mouth. Fortunately, Yeojin obeyed.

In that last week, Haseul had met the remaining members of the band Jungeun talked to her about, and as expected they all were as easy-going  as her, so it wasn’t a problem to just start getting to know them. That day, the three girls were in the café just hanging out as usual, talking with each other in such a friendly and amusing way that anyone could be jealous.

The older girl of the three, Jinsol, spotted Haseul and Yeojin at the back of the café, and although she wasn’t very close with them yet, she was in a mood for small talk. It was kind of funny how easily they ended up talking to each other in the café, but they were never left with an uneasy feeling, nor with the usual awkwardness of approaching a stranger. It was just _nice._

Haseul and Yeojin waved their hands at Jinsol as soon as they saw her walking towards them.

“Hey you know who just passed their math test?” Jinsol sat on one of the chairs in front of the other two girls and lowered her head like she was about to tell them a secret.

“You?” Yeojin asked, not totally getting the older girl’s intentions and matching her voice’s tone.

“No!” Her voice’s volume went dramatically up, which made Haseul and Yeojin almost get up from their chairs. “It was that girl over there!!”  
Jinsol pointed at Yerim, that held her head in disbelief and shame, apparently, she wasn’t happy about how Jinsol was hyping her up.

Haseul and Yeojin shot Yerim a thumbs up. “It must have been hard, well done”

“It was all thanks to me, tell them Yerim” Jinsol’s smug grin made the girls in front of her laugh.

“Okay, this time I have to admit it. I owe you one Jung Jinsol”

Yerim decided to do the same thing as Jinsol and sat at Haseul and Yeojin’s table too, as if they had known each other for years.

“I’m so sorry, it must be hard to cope with all this crazy people, right?” Yerim said, directing her gaze towards Haseul and Yeojin.

Jinsol looked deeply offended and couldn’t believe what she heard. “You are not just implying you are not one of them”

Haseul and Yeojin looked at each other with fear in their eyes. _Are they always like this?_

“Whatever, thank god we still have Jungeun. Talk of the devil; she is finally bringing our drinks, I thought I was going to die of thirst”

Jungeun held two drinks in her hands, and walked slowly in their direction carefully trying not to drop the glasses. She smiled at seeing the girls together.

“Why are you being so loud for? At this rate Sooyoung is going to kick your asses out.”

Yeojin shot Haseul a glance at Jungeun’s sudden appearance, which only made her gain a kick from the older girl under the table. Haseul would make sure she never told Yeojin a thing again.

Now that they all were in the same table (they even brought one more chair) it looked like some strange friends’ meeting, because they were practically looking at each other’s faces and not saying a thing, which this time was kind of awkward.

Nobody seemed to want to start a conversation, or maybe they did but they didn’t know how.

But suddenly Yeojin’s stomach growled and they all directed their gazes towards her, it was a matter of seconds for her ears to be filled with laughter.

“Wow Yeojin, what a way to break the ice” Jungeun clapped her hands in amusement.

“Totally, 10/10 in originality. All this grandmas don’t stand a chance.” Yerim said, ignoring the other girls’ unamused faces. “I’m, also kind of hungry by the way”

Jinsol turned her back and looked for Chaewon. “Chaewon please bring some snacks, we have some kids starving here”

Well maybe that remark was her revenge.

Chaewon was pretty fast with her task, and soon she was walking towards the girls’ table, with her tray full of various kinds of snacks, which sight made Yeojin’s stomach growl again.

“Hey, it’s not fair that you are all here having fun while I’m still working” Chaewon pouted, and whilst she was just joking it was true that she would love to be there having some fun with them.

“You know what? We should all meet up one of this days, it’s summer!” Jungeun announced, getting an approval nod from the other girls in an instant.

Haseul decided to say something too, “Yeah. To be honest, I want to get to know all of you better” She looked at Yeojin, who stared back at her and smiled softly.

“Yeah, if that’s how you are all the time I can’t miss all that fun” Yeojin said, knowing she just made Haseul proud.

They all seemed to be in high spirits right then.

“Say bye to my shut-in summer life!” Yerim yelled. “You know? It’s been so long since I didn’t have to take summer lessons, I can finally enjoy my youth”

Maybe one of the things that made the girls laugh the most was how dramatic Yerim was all the time. Haseul and Yeojin, who didn’t know the girls yet, started getting a general idea of each one’s role in this whole group.

It was kind of heartwarming how they made plans like they were kids all over again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“‘Go die’, huh?”

Heejin erased the writings in her desk with indifference. She then sat in her chair and waited for the teacher to arrive.

Even if it was early June already, she felt the class’ walls colder than ever, she closed her eyes softly. It was the last week of school and she wasn’t sure if she would make it at this rate.

Millions of thoughts ran in her head, the thing was that there wasn’t even a happy one. She was so deeply sick of absolutely everything, god, she couldn’t even walk peacefully through the high school’s corridors.

She had to read every single morning the same shit written down in her desk, she had to deal with her classmates’ judging gazes and sharp words every single day. On top of everything, she hadn’t done a single bad thing, that hell she was going through was just fruit of other people’s _hate_ , she didn’t deserve any of this.

But she didn’t actually believe any of this. She had really started to think that maybe she did deserve it. It was much easier for her to think that way, at that point she was just so exhausted from thinking.

She tried to run out of the class the fastest she could once the bell rang, and in a matter of a minute she found herself at the school’s backyard. The grass glittered from the earlier drizzle, which only made Heejin’s summer even colder.

She let her back hit one of the outside walls of the building, wishing the day to just finish already. She was so absorbed with her thoughts that she didn’t notice the presence of another girl beside her.

Heejin didn’t even bother to open her mouth to talk, she just took a step back, but kept looking at the other girl’s amused face and her round eyes. Heejin didn’t take long to finally divert her gaze from her, she was starting to get annoyed by the sudden encounter. She didn’t know this girl at all.

“Do you want some?” The girl took out a piece of bread wrapped in a plastic paper and offered it to Heejin.

Heejin gave her an apathetic glance and muttered an almost inaudible ‘thank you’ while turning down the girl’s offer with a wave of her hand.

The other girl just shrugged and took a bite of her food, not moving from her place.

 

Hyunjin prepared to go back to the school’s gym, it was almost time for practice and she wanted to be there as soon as possible. It had been a strange day for her, on top of that she had met a strange girl at her usual spot at the backyard, Hyunjin had tried to be nice to her but the other girl had just seemed too cold for her to try to actually initiate a conversation.

Anyway, she was more than ready for today’s practice, even when her teammates’ gazes where still as questioning as they had been for the past weeks.

She grabbed the ball with both hands and tried to score several times, before the rest of the team arrived. Kahei was already there of course, and bowed her head slightly as a hello when she saw her.

When all the team was reunited the practice started, they went by a simple match after some warm-up exercises. Running from place to place and the feeling of the wind hitting her face was enough to make Hyunjin happy, who that day too showed her amazing skills.

However, in a matter of seconds someone passed right in front of her bluntly and completely out of place, it was clearly not Hyunjin’s fault when the other girl hit her and fell to the ground, she didn’t even have to be there in the first place, it was too obvious it had been intentional, still…

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” The girl yelled, looking up at an astonished Hyunjin from the ground.

“Sorry, I-”

“Fucking dyke” The girl had meant to whisper, but Hyunjin had clearly heard that, so clearly that was enough to make her blood boil.

Hyunjin let out a chuckle.  
“You are all so pathetic, it makes me wanna throw up”

Kahei, who was aware of what was happening, decided to stop the match immediately.

“Okay, stop right there. Enough for today, you can go home now”

Hyunjin rolled her eyes, not believing what had just happened, and started walking towards the locker room with angry steps. She was starting to lose it for real.

When everyone had already left, Kahei appeared in front of the locker rooms just when Hyunjin was about to leave.

“I have to talk with you”

Hyunjin should have seen that coming, now she was going to get in trouble for sure. She scratched her head out of irritation.

“Sure”

Kahei beckoned Hyunjin to sit with her in one of the benches, suddenly the younger one’s hands started to sweat. Although Kahei was looking at her with nothing else but concern.

She talked softly. “I’ve been aware of what has been going on with you for these past weeks”

Hyunjin tensed up “There’s nothing going on with _me_ , it’s just those annoying brats that don’t know what respect means”

Kahei let out an understanding breath. “Look, I get it. But you’ll get into trouble at this rate”

Hyunjin fell silent and thought about the new coach’s words.

“But on top of everything, there’s another thing that worries me. Are you okay? I mean-”

“I know what you mean. Thank you for your concern, really, but I’m totally fine.”  
Hyunjin’s face really did give a feeling of assurance and her voice sounded pretty calm, like she didn’t give it any importance, so Kahei immediately felt calmer. For the first time in the last week, Kahei smiled at the younger girl.

“I see. You just want them to stop bothering you, right?”

Hyunjin thanked Kahei for being the only one that understood her.

“Exactly, I just want to play basketball in peace”

Kahei laughed. “Sometimes you can’t do anything about it, haters gonna hate y’ know”

Hyunjin couldn’t help but laugh at the young woman’s easygoing self, she was starting to connect with her pretty well. Besides that, she found strange she was so capable of understanding her, it was almost as if…

“Life sometimes sucks, but I get by thinking that it could be worse” Hyunjin talked without holding back, for the first time in her life.

Kahei smiled bitterly “That’s a good way of seeing it. But then you have to be able to help those who have it worse, I think that’s the most important thing”

Hyunjin nodded, contemplating what the older girl just said. “If I had the opportunity I wouldn’t hesitate. However everybody tends to keep it to themselves you know?”

Kahei agreed with her. “You may be right, but it’s easy to see when someone is having a hard time”

Hyunjin suddenly thought that maybe she had been looking at herself all this time and hadn’t bothered to understand how others felt at all, she kind of felt guilty. This thought lead to an almost forgotten memory from that same morning, and her mind suddenly went to that strange girl she had met earlier at the school’s backyard.

“You are right. I think we all have to take empathy lessons” Hyunjin laughed, sounding bitter all of a sudden.

Kahei looked at the girl and dared to pat her head, even if it made Hyunjin feel embarrassed.

“I’m not sure if a teacher should be telling you this, but there’s this place I frequent where there are a bunch of kids like you”

Hyunjin listened with her eyes wide open, like a child listening to a bedtime story. Kahei laughed nervously.

“It’s been a long time since I last went. It’s a café not too far from the school, you want to come with me today?”

She was suddenly afraid of making Hyunjin uncomfortable, but the younger girl’s face suddenly lit up, Kahei had never seen her make that kind of face, but was more than happy to see the girl smile.

“Sure!”

 

* * *

 

 

It had been so long since Hyunjin walked jumping at every step she made, she felt like a little kid all over again, and she smiled at thinking about the conversation with her coach again, she couldn’t wait to visit the café later.

It had started pouring again, and she opened her umbrella, looking at the cloudy sky. Just when she was about to go down the building’s stairs and head home she found that girl from earlier again.

She fell silent and watched the girl, who was sitting by the school’s gate. Everyone had gone home by then, so why was she still there?

Hyunjin approached her silently from the back, but stopped in her tracks when she saw the girl’s shoulders harshly lifting up and down repeatedly.

Hyunjin spoke in the quietest voice. “Hey… is everything okay”

It was clear that Heejin hadn’t heard her, so Hyunjin got closer and shook her right shoulder softly. “Is everything okay?” She repeated.

Heejin got up suddenly and ran away, leaving a confused and worried Hyunjin behind. Something had happened to her for sure, and Hyunjin would do whatever it took to help her, she wasn’t going to let someone suffer anymore, she was tired of not doing anything.

 

* * *

 

 

“KAHEI!!!” Jiwoo yelled when she saw a familiar face outside de café. Immediately Sooyoung and Chaewon stopped what they were doing and looked outside the window. It was indeed her, it had been so long since they last saw her, so they were incredibly happy.

As soon as she entered the café, Chaewon and Jiwoo threw themselves into Kahei’s arms, and she burst out into laughter. Sooyoung, on the other hand, was a bit calmer and walked towards the girl slowly.

“Kahei it’s been so long, how have you been?” Sooyoung asked happily while hugging the other girl briefly. Kahei had been visiting the café for a long time and at some point she couldn’t find time to go as she had to prepare for being a teacher. She missed them all.

“I’m being great. How are things going here? I see you are doing well”

“Yeah! Everything is going smoothly, but it’s not the same without you” Jiwoo hugged Kahei hard, to the point that it was starting to get difficult to breath.

The girls where so distracted with Kahei’s presence that they didn’t notice the girl who was accompanying her.

When they did, though, they immediately stopped showering Kahei with attention and focused on the stranger.

“Oh, sorry. Good afternoon” Sooyoung said, blaming herself for such a slip-up.

Hyunjin immediately replied while laughing softly “It’s okay”  
Kahei went back to Hyunjin’s side, and introduced her. “She is one of my students, she is in the basketball team”  
The rest of girls made an ‘I see’ face, and looked at the newly introduced girl with interest.

“Oh, then come with me, we have a free table there” Chaewon beckoned the two girls to a table by the window.

Hyunjin felt a little out of place but she trusted Kahei, also she was left with a good impression, as she saw how friendly the staff was.

“What would you like?” Chaewon took out a little notepad out of her pocket. Kahei looked at Hyunjin, as expecting something.

“Say, don’t worry it’s on me” Kahei said, gaining a panicked look from Hyunjin.

“No, no. Please don’t bother I can pay for it.” Hyunjin shook both of her hands, a bit embarrassed of accepting the other girl’s offer. Chaewon smiled at this.

“Anyway, just say something. It would be a cappuccino for me please.” Kahei said, while Chaewon wrote it down.

“Then, just a coke for me please” Hyunjin said, almost whispering.

Chaewon nodded and went to tell Sooyoung the orders.

Kahei looked at Hyunjin, “You don’t like coffee?”  
Hyunjin shook her hand. “Not really, and with this heat I prefer something cool.”

Kahei nodded, and pointed the café to Hyunjin, who waited for her to talk.

“Okay, so the woman that runs this place is called Sooyoung, she’s over there” Hyunjin made an understanding nod. “Then, that girl who is by her side is Jiwoo, her girlfriend” Hyunjin widened her eyes, suddenly interested by all these people’s lives. “Then the girl who took our order is called Chaewon, she’s the same age as you.”

“I see” Hyunjin was truly interested about what Kahei was telling her, it was nice to meet people like her, it may seem strange for some people, but for her it was something really important, it made her feel at ease.

Their orders arrived and while Chaewon was putting their drinks in their table Jiwoo went outside the café with some kind of paper in her hand.

“What is Jiwoo doing?” Asked Kahei, who was looking at the girl outside the window.

“Ah, we are hiring new people. Jiwoo is putting some hiring posters out there.” Chaewon explained.

“Nice timing, now that school has ended I’m sure there are a lot of students looking for a part-time job” Pointed out Kahei.

Jiwoo went back to the café and started walking towards the kitchen, probably to tell Sooyoung she was done with the hiring posters.

Sooyoung was working in the kitchen, tidying things up and cleaning a bit. Jiwoo smiled at her girlfriend, who was as hard working as always.

“I’ve finished”

Sooyoung looked at the other girl whose presence hadn’t noticed until she had opened her mouth, and gave her a bright smile.

“You are happier than usual” Sooyoung got closer to her and put the dirty cloth she had been using aside.

Jiwoo’s lips formed a smile, and she took the other girl’s hands in hers. “Good things have been happening lately, don’t you think?”

Sooyoung looked at Jiwoo like she was the only thing in the world. “Things are getting pretty lively around here. I think we can no longer control this, they are just getting here by themselves.”

“Like a magnet”

Sooyoung laughed, because as funny as it sounded it seemed to be true. She put her hands on Jiwoo’s cheeks and moved her face closer to hers.

“To be honest it’s kind of scary”

Jiwoo closed her eyes. “It is, but we’ll be okay”

Sooyoung kissed her slowly, as if nothing else mattered. It was at those moments when the café was the only thing that existed in the whole world.

 

* * *

 

 

At midnight everything was different, and there was no trace of  the annoying summer heat to be found. Streets were dark, and there was no one walking through.

Heejin dragged her feet along the road, not caring at all about the time it was. She didn’t feel like going back home today, she was tired though. But she felt that no amount of sleep was enough.

Today had been tougher than usual, people had seemed to be in the mood to torment Heejin even more, so now she was surely feeling the aftermath. At one point her legs couldn’t keep up and she spotted stairs by the gate of some closed café, so she decided to go sit there.

She hugged her knees, letting out a sob, however tears wouldn’t come out. Heejin’s mind was suddenly clouded with a lot of information at once and she didn’t know what to do about it. There was a part of herself that found everything unfair and refused to lose against all who hurt her, but there was this other part that had started to believe what she had been told. Heejin was tired of being sad, but it was the only thing she could do, or so she thought.

‘You are disgusting’ god, it almost sounded pathetic the fact that she had been affected by those childish words, that’s what she thought.

_If only I were stronger._

She prayed for a miracle every day.

A door’s bells rang in her ears and Heejin jumped. She turned back and saw a woman getting out of the café she had thought to be closed. Heejin kept silent, diverting the gaze from the woman as if saying ‘mind your own business’

Sooyoung wasn’t used to seeing strangers sitting at her café’s stairs at midnight though, so she couldn’t just go. Especially when the one sitting there was a high school girl.

“May I ask…?”

“Mind your own business”

Sooyoung looked deeply irritated. “Sorry but you happen to be in front of _my_ café, so please go back home, it’s pretty late”

Heejin looked at the stranger, but immediately went back to hiding her face between her knees.

Suddenly something took over Sooyoung, and even if the girl hadn’t been the nicest, she started to get worried. “What are you doing here at this hour?”

Heejin didn’t answer.

“Look, you have to go home. It’s dangerous to be outside so late”

Heejin shook her head.

Sooyoung held her head, thinking about how she could convince the girl. She wasn’t dumb, though, she saw that the girl was indeed not okay, and she couldn’t just leave her there. So she sat beside her, and spoke in a soft voice.

“Can I help you?”  
Heejin kept silent.

Sooyoung knew that this would take plenty of time, so she prepared herself mentally and assumed that she wouldn’t be able to go home yet, as much as she wanted to sleep.

“You know, if you don’t talk about it then no one can help you”

Heejin opened her mouth “Why would I want someone to help me?”  
Sooyoung rejoiced at getting the girl to talk, she should keep pushing a little more.

She should be careful not to seem like she was worrying too much if she wanted to get past the girl’s shield, though. Sooyoung was used to this.

“Okay, whatever you say. So you plan to be sad forever and live in the streets for the rest of your life”

She was trying to get some reaction from Heejin. Even get her mad, that always worked.

“It’s not in my hands”

Sooyoung’s eyes widened (just to get the girl angry, as she wasn’t surprised at all) “So your happiness doesn’t have to do with you?”

Heejin’s hands turned into fists. “What would you know?”  
Sooyoung smiled internally. “I thought one’s happiness depended on one’s self”

Heejin fell silent for a couple of seconds, finally raising her head from her knees. “Kinda difficult if you keep hearing shit from others every single day”

Sooyoung muttered a low ‘bingo’ to herself. “You are still telling me that it depends on others”

The younger girl looked really irritated and she hid her face once again, as if she was not only angry but also ashamed. Sooyoung decided to stop pushing and opted for a kinder way of saying things, she was finally getting the girl to talk. She did her best to pay attention to the smallest details.

“You have no idea”

“Tell me then”

Both of them fell silent them, Sooyoung would wait as long as it took. Then, she heard the girl let out a sob.

“Maybe they are right” Heejin raised her head but didn’t look at Sooyoung. “Maybe I should simply die”

Sooyoung gulped, she didn’t think it would be that serious. Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so hard with the girl. She was aware of the younger girl’s current state of mind and she should be especially careful of what she did or say, on the other hand she was glad that she was the one who found her.

“And then what? What would happen when you die?”

Heejin started crying, not just sobs this time, there were actual tears. Sooyoung contemplated if she should make physical contact or not, she put her hand on her back slowly, testing the waters.

“Then… they would have finally get rid of a disgusting being as me”

Sooyoung’s heart started beating hard, worrying more and more about the girl in front of her and seeing where things were going. Once seeing that the girl didn’t react negatively when she had put her hand on her back she dared to cautiously hug her, and letting the girl cry on her shoulder.

“Wh-What’s disgusting about you?” Sooyoung was afraid to ask, but they would have to get to that point sooner or later.

“Liking girls…” Heejin uttered in the softest voice.

Sooyoung fell silent and Heejin tried to get away from her grip.

Then she laughed.

“God, don’t scare me like that!”

Heejin looked absolutely dumbfounded.

“If that’s what has been bothering you then you have come to the right place”

Sooyoung hadn’t felt any more relieved in her life, now she was sure of what she had to do and how she could help the girl, suddenly everything seemed to have become unimportant and fortunately easier.

She looked for the keys on her pocket and got in front of the door.

“Come here. I’ll treat you to something”

For some reason, Heejin felt so astonished that she simply couldn’t say no to the woman’s offer. So she found herself at one of the chairs in front of the counter of the empty café.

It was kind of surreal, she was there with a woman she didn’t even know and to whom she had told her all her miseries. And she was waiting for this same woman to finish preparing a cup of green tea for her.

Heejin looked at her surroundings, the café was prettily decorated with numerous plants hanging from the ceiling, and it had vintage-like lamps hanging from it too. It was kind of original, as it was a mix of different styles, which made it really interesting and pleasing to see. All this details made her relax.

“Here you are”

Heejin took the cup in her hands as soon as Sooyoung put it in front of her, and naturally it was still hot.

“Watch out, don’t worry it’s not going anywhere”

Heejin put the cup back in front of her, and did as Sooyoung told and waited for it to cool off. Sooyoung sat beside her.

“So, you have been bullied because of that”

The other girl nodded, and Sooyoung felt a sting in her chest. Now that they were in the café and it was lighter than out there in the middle of the city, she could see the younger girl’s features better, it only made Sooyoung feel more pity. She looked like she couldn’t hurt a fly, and her eyes were all puffy from all the crying, it made Sooyoung think about how unfair it was for her to be going through all that.

“I like girls too, so I know how you feel” Sooyoung decided it was the best for her to have someone who she could connect to, so she didn’t hold back.

Heejin’s expression was a mixture between surprise and relieve, it gave Sooyoung positive vibes.

But now that she had processed everything that had happened with this girl she understood that the first thing she had to do was to help Heejin get better. She was clearly not okay, and Sooyoung knew it would take time.

“But… It’s not the same”

Sooyoung laughed kindly “What do you mean it’s not the same?”

Heejin fell silent because she didn’t really have an answer to that, she had got used to being ‘the different one’ and the one who ‘was not okay’ so meeting someone as her was still something unknown for her, she still thought she didn’t deserve to be treated well.

“What’s your name, by the way? I’m Sooyoung”

“Heejin”  
Sooyoung smiled. “I think you can drink the tea now, it must have already cooled off”

Heejin, that had forgotten about the tea completely, did as told, and the feeling of warmth going down her throat was nice.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Sooyoung asked.

“N-No” Heejin suddenly tensed up.

“What’s with that face?” Sooyoung laughed. “I’m not trying to flirt with you, don’t worry”  
Heejin’s face turned a shade of pink and she wanted to get out of there all of a sudden.

“I have a girlfriend, she works here too”

At hearing that, Heejin lowered her gaze bitterly, she didn’t know what made the words escaping Sooyoung’s mouth feel so hurtful, but Sooyoung did, that’s precisely why she told her that. She wanted Heejin to feel that.

Sooyoung wanted to help Heejin, that was her main goal. That’s why she knew that the first thing she had to accomplish was making Heejin aware of her own sadness. Once she did that, Heejin would have to actually want to get better, if she didn’t then it would simply be impossible, although wanting to get better was the most difficult part.

The reason Heejin looked so down at hearing that Sooyoung had a girlfriend was nothing more but jealousy.

That statement would make her think: _Why is she happy and I’m not? Even when we are the same._

That thought would chase after her and she would have no option but wanting to be happy too, therefore wanting to get better. Sometimes jealousy was a good thing, it was a really strong emotion that could make people go beyond their limits.

“See this café? It’s my home. There’s nothing more important for me than this place”

Heejin studied the place one more time, and couldn’t help but wonder a lot of things about it. When was it first opened, what type of people worked there, if there were many customers…

“A lot of people like us come here”

Heejin looked back at Sooyoung, she was listening attentively now.

“There are people your age, or even younger. Then there are people my age too”

She was shocked at the ‘even younger’ part. Did that people have to go through the same pain as her? She couldn’t help but wonder that.

“When I first opened this place I wanted to make a place where people could be themselves without being afraid. And thanks to that I’ve met all these amazing people. I was really proud of seeing what I made. Today I was precisely talking about this with my girlfriend, about how in the end we didn’t even do anything; they came here by themselves, getting attracted to this place as if it were a magnet”

Heejin dared to finally say something “Could I be one of those? Could I have been attracted to this place without me knowing it?”

Sooyoung smiled at .the younger girl’s childlike eyes, who were staring at her as she was some kind of magician.

“Probably, who knows?”

Then they both stopped talking, the only thing that could be heard was when Heejin took a sip of her tea.

But there was still something bothering Heejin, and Sooyoung knew.

“How… is your girlfriend?”

“How? You mean what kind of person she is?”

Heejin nodded.

“She is a ball of energy, sometimes is hard to keep up with her, she’s always running from a place to another. Other times she gets sensitive and she needs to get showered with love. She may seem like a child, but she is probably more mature than I am. She is really caring and nice, you should met her a day of these”  
The younger girl listened attentively, growing more and more curious about how would be to live Sooyoung’s life.

Then she thought about how brave Sooyoung and all these people were and how much of a coward she was instead.

She wanted to do something about it.

“I’m sure she is a great person”  
Sooyoung couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear. “Yeah, she is. But maybe it would be better if you met her yourself”  
Heejin understood this was an invitation for her to visit the café, and at that moment she felt insecure about it.

“I… don’t know”

“I’m here all day; I don’t leave this place, so you can stay with me. You don’t have to talk to anyone yet.”  
Heejin deeply thought about it, and finally gave up. “Okay, sure”

Sooyoung patted the other girl’s head.

“Are you feeling better?”

Heejin didn’t exactly answer, but her face said it all. Sooyoung was genuinely happy.

“I think I should go back home”

 

* * *

 

 

It almost made Sooyoung laugh, when one of the first people that entered the café the next morning was indeed Heejin.

She didn’t have much sleep that night, but she didn’t really care.

Jiwoo whispered in Sooyoung’s ear “Is that the girl you talked to me about?”  
“Yeah, try not to talk to her much yet though, she is still feeling insecure”

“Got it”

However, when Heejin got to the table that was the closest to the counter Sooyoung saw how pale her face had got.

“Is something wrong?” Sooyoung asked.

“That girl over there.” Heejin pointed to one of the tables at the back of the café. “Do you know her name?

Sooyoung took a look quickly. “Yeah, she is Hyunjin. Why?”

“She is from my high school”

“And?”

Heejin fell silent.

“She is pretty new here, she came with Kahei, I believe she teaches on your school then”

Heejin looked totally shocked and nodded forcefully.

“Well, surprise then. There were people like you way closer than you thought”

Then Heejin felt really bad, she had ignored that girl called Hyunjin multiple times and she only wanted to help, she owed her an apology.

However she wasn’t as fast as Hyunjin, that had noticed her when she got inside and was walking quickly towards her.

“Excuse me” Hyunjin said, tapping Heejin’s shoulder.

Heejin totally froze up then, and Sooyoung looked really concerned.

“Listen, I’m really sorry!”

Sooyoung’s eyes opened wide, so did Hyunjin’s.

“I was so mean to you, I really didn’t mean to ignore you like that. I was having a hard time, I hope you understand”  
Hyunjin laughed then. “It’s okay, I only wanted to know how you were”  
Sooyoung, who was listening to all of it, smiled and continued with her work without having to worry any more.

“Can I sit with you?” Hyunjin asked, with such caring eyes that made Heejin’s heart skip a beat.

“Sure”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate myself for making Heejin suffer I SWEAR.  
> I know you want to know what happens to the café, but first I’m focusing on the past and how the girls feel about the café and the bonds they have with each other. I think it’s very necessary for the understanding of the story.  
> I’m not 100% happy about how I’m writing this, but I’ll do my best to make the next chapters better! (Thank you so much for the comments and kudos!1!1!!)


	4. Summer days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more the merrier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took longer! I'll do my best and update the next chapter as soon as possible!

**Late July**

Nobody liked walking under July’s dazzling sun at noon. Especially Hyejoo.

But she was starting to get desperate, moving her head forcefully from right to left, looking at shop’s and restaurant’s windows, checking if any of them was hiring staff.

She wanted to go back home, turn on the aircon and play videogames until early morning. However, she had promised herself that she would do something productive that summer, and that meant getting a part-time job (also because her parents wouldn’t shut up about her being already 16 and having to get used to having responsibilities and blah blah blah)

Well, maybe because she needed some money for a new pc too.

Anyway, she was about to give up, she had been hours walking nonstop and she was sure she had already checked every place in her neighborhood. Then she noticed an alley that was sure she hadn’t been to yet, however, she was almost sure there wasn’t anything to find. Strangely, even if Hyejoo could have just ignored it, something told her she should try.

And in the end, her intuitions were right. Hyejoo hopped towards the only café in the alley with the biggest smile in her face, getting even happier when she saw how cutely decorated the hiring poster was.

She looked inside the café from the window with a curious expression, just in order to get a general view of the place. Hyejoo liked it, it was more spacious than she had thought, and thanks to this it had a comfy feeling. Normally, it were smaller places the ones that had this warm feeling, nonetheless, even if it wasn’t the case, the café had this cozy aura that made it so special, since as much as it gave a sense of independence it also had one of belonging.

The café’s gate opened and Chaewon appeared, dashing towards the other girl, who was still staring at the paper in front of her.

“Excuse me!”

Hyejoo focused her gaze on the stranger, who she assumed to be part of the café staff because of the uniform she was wearing.

“Are you interested in working here, by chance?” The girl’s eyes seemed to sparkle under the sun, and Hyejoo was slightly taken aback by the sudden question.

“Um… Yeah, I saw you were hiring staff so I wondered if I could apply for it”

Chaewon clapped her hands twice, and her face showed pure content. “Perfect! We are closing now, but you can come and talk with our manager this evening.”

Hyejoo looked surprised. “But… Hasn’t anyone else already applied for it?”

Chaewon scratched her head. “Not yet, and I don’t think anyone will. We saw other establishments were also hiring personnel and as this café is kind of off the beaten path…”

Hyejoo let out a tired breath and muttered “That’s why I didn’t find any”

The black haired girl kept silent for a couple of seconds before actually answering to the other girl. “Okay, then I’ll come this evening”

“Oh, cool hahahahaha!” Chaewon looked strangely shy for a moment and burst into the most awkward laughter, and before she could see the other girl’s reaction she turned her back to Hyejoo and rushed back to the café.

Hyejoo was left with a confused expression. Not only did she find the other girl’s reaction _really_ weird but also it had all seemed too easy, Hyejoo would lie if she didn’t think it sounded kind of fishy, not to say that that girl was maybe too hyped up, but well, she was too tired of thinking about it. She was also sure she wouldn’t find anything better, so decided to just go with it.

_What a weird girl, maybe I really should have stayed at home_

She turned around and started walking.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

A pair of feet continuously moved from side to side behind the counter, both hands covering the girl’s face.

Jiwoo put silently her tray on the nearest empty table and approached the other girl cautiously, brows furrowing out of concern.

“Chaewon, what exactly are you doing?”

“Jiwoo, help me.” The girl said, stopping dead in her tracks and looking at Jiwoo. “I think I screwed up”

At hearing this, Jiwoo couldn’t help but feel a bit worried, but for some reason, seeing Chaewon’s panicked face made her crack a smile, and suddenly she couldn’t take seriously what the other girl was saying.

“What happened?”

“I saw this girl looking at our hiring notice and I went to speak with her but she was like super pretty and I panicked and I think I scared her and now I’m sure I have ruined our only chance of hiring someone and-”

“Okay, slow down” Jiwoo gestured Chaewon to calm down, not being able to stop the smile appearing in her face. “I’m sure you are just exaggerating”

Chaewon dig her hands on her hair, her face turning redder as seconds passed.

“Did you tell her to come later?”

Chaewon nodded, and quickly grabbed her tray and went back to work, trying to get rid of her heart’s pounding.

Meanwhile Jiwoo was already coming up with a lot of different ways to tease the younger girl, and suddenly she was really interested in that girl she talked about, she really hoped she got accepted.

Jiwoo needed something to gossip about, Jungeun and Haseul’s romcom had lost its fun once she saw it wasn’t getting anywhere. She was already imagining how things would be if the staff had a new couple, Sooyoung and her were not enough. Also, having a new coworker sounded fun, it would definitely cheer things up.

Speaking of Sooyoung, she was at the counter not doing really anything, as it was almost lunchtime and people had already gone to their homes. Heejin was still at the café, she had been there all morning as she finally had all the time in the world since school had finished a month ago. At some point she agreed with Sooyoung that every day she would try a different kind of coffee in the menu and then tell her her thoughts, so that’s what they were doing right then. Heejin’s face twisted in disgust.

“This is… so bitter”

“You are still a kid, just wait a couple of years and you’ll see how much you like it” Sooyoung said, taking a sip of her own coffee.

Heejin looked back at her with the same face of disgust she had when tasting the drink, “I don’t think it has to do with age. By the way, you are not much older than me”  
“Whatever” Sooyoung laughed.

The door of the café suddenly opened, revealing a sweaty Hyunjin, that slowly closed the door behind her.

“Good morning”

Sooyoung and Heejin greeted her back, the latter a bit more shyly.

“Are you eating here?” Sooyoung asked the girl, who sat beside Heejin.

“There’s no one in home right now, so I’m having lunch here” Hyunjin explained, smiling briefly at the girl at her left. “Can you make me that delicious sandwich? You know, the café’s hidden gem”

Heejin couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Hyunjin, it’s just an ordinary sandwich”

Both Sooyoung and Hyunjin looked at Heejin with piercing eyes, for different reasons.

“Anything I make is good, do you want me to kick you out of my café?”  
“How can you say that? Just a bite is enough to be immediately sent to heaven!”

Heejin covered her head with her arms, “Okay, okay! Then make another one for me too”

Heejin felt like staying a bit longer all of a sudden.

Sooyoung clapped her hands and turned around, making her way towards the kitchen and leaving the younger girls alone.

As expected, neither of them said a word. It made the girls think about how funny it was the fact that things could change so suddenly just with Sooyoung’s absence.

“It’s really hot out there” Heejin whispered, immediately wanting to facepalm herself.

_Of course it’s hot, we are in July, for god’s sake._

It was even worse when Hyunjin laughed. “Then why are you having a hot coffee? Wouldn’t it be better to just drink a glass of water?”

At least they were talking now. “I’ve promised Sooyoung I’d try everything on the menu, so here I am”

“You don’t look like you’re enjoying it though” Hyunjin laughed.

“Not this one, it’s really bitter.” Heejin moved the cup towards the other girl. “Do you want some?”

Hyunjin waved her hands, declining the offer. “No, thanks. I’m not a fan of coffee”

Heejin laughed. “Kinda funny when you are a regular customer of a café”

Hyunjin pouted. “There are other things besides coffee in a café, y’know?”

“I know, it just seems funny to me”

The place fell silent again, but now that things seemed to cool off it was much better.

Sooyoung came back with two plates on her hands, slowly handing them to the girls, whose eyes flared at the inviting sight.

“There you go”

Both girls bowed their head slightly as a thank you and proceeded to eat their sandwiches. Sooyoung watched them amused, however what she saw next surprised her and warmed her heart.

“Ah, it’s true. You are in the basketball’s team, right? I saw you playing a couple of times.”

Hyunjin finished chewing on her sandwich and nodded, slightly smiling due to finally starting a decent conversation with the other girl.

That’s the same reason why Sooyoung looked so happy, it was nice to see how Heejin was starting to feel more comfortable, not to say that she had made a big effort and that she was much better now, in such a short time. Sooyoung was the proudest.

“But next year I would probably quit, it’s the last year and I want to focus on studying” Hyunjin said, her expression saddening slightly.

At that point, Sooyoung had already gone, meeting the rest of the staff at the kitchen, who were about to leave. Heejin and Hyunjin seemed to have forgotten about Sooyoung at that point and were too invested in their own conversation that they weren’t aware of the passing time.

“I still think you should try to make some time, you look really happy when you play”  
Hyunjin laughed nervously, she felt like she couldn’t say no to the other girl or she would disappoint her, for some reason she hated the idea of letting Heejin down. It made her quite happy too, and little by little she felt she was actually being convinced not to quit the team.

Chaewon, who was already changed into her casual clothes, walked towards the girls and patted their shoulders.

“We are closing, girls”

Hyunjin and Heejin looked up at the girl and rose from their seats, their faces totally indicating they had no single clue about the time it was. Jiwoo appeared from the kitchen fixing her clothes cautiously, and went to the café’s main door.

“You can come later if you want, we’ll be waiting for you” Jiwoo smiled, letting the two girls leave through the door first.

But suddenly Yeojin appeared, who was approaching the café out of breath, and stopped in her tracks when she spotted Hyunjin and Heejin in front of it.

“Is something wrong?” Jiwoo asked the younger girl, who looked like she had lost something.

“Yeah, I left my purse, can I go inside?” Yeojin answered quickly, not looking at Jiwoo and still focusing her gaze on the two other girls.

“I think I’ve seen you before…”  
Immediately something crossed Hyunjin’s mind and made her nod her head in understanding, Heejin still looked confused, though.

“You go to our same high school, right?” Hyunjin asked.

Yeojin, who was waiting for Jiwoo to open the door for her, made a ‘that’s right’ face, examining the other girl’s face as if trying to get an answer for something.

 Heejin, on the other hand, still couldn’t recall the other girl’s face, but started to wonder if when Sooyoung said there were younger people visiting the café she was referring to her. She looked at her curiously.

Yeojin looked over the café’s insides multiple times, until she finally found what she was looking for, and she went back outside with the same speed she had entered the café.

“Found it!” Yeojin exclaimed, waving her purse above her head. “Thanks”

Jiwoo attempted to make an annoyed face but couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Be careful next time”

Yeojin nodded and turned her body to the other girls. “Bye! Maybe I stop by later”

The young girl disappeared and eventually everyone else too. The sun high in the sky and the heat rising from the road.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Hyejoo looked at her old watch, that already showed 7pm. The girl let out a yawn and decided to get ready for going out. She had told her parents about the job she had found and they seemed to be cool with it, so she didn’t had to think about it anymore and put her shoes back on, ready to leave her house for the second time in the day.

She was glad, like, really glad, that it wasn’t as hot as in the morning, the sun was much lower and there was even a mild breeze blowing. She slowly made her way towards the café, thinking over and over about what she should say. Hyejoo would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit nervous, it was the first time in her life that she had applied for a part-time job, and the thought of something going wrong scared her, but she opted not to think about it too much.

Once she got to the front of the building, her lungs were filled with air which was soon exhaled slowly, the girl fixed her gaze in the café in front of her with a determined expression and finally made her legs move towards it.

The inside of the café showed its usual liveliness, and she could see how well it was doing, however, it was clear that they were in need of another waitress, as the ones that were already working seemed to be always in a rush. Hyejoo started getting even more nervous as seconds passed.

Hyejoo had this habit of repeating that everything would be alright several times in her head, and usually it really paid off. So she thought this time wouldn’t be any different.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Girls, guess which café just gained one more helping hand.” Sooyoung was in a really good mood that morning, greeting the rest of the staff that had just appeared through the kitchen’s door.

“Finally? Oh that’s a relief; I really thought we would have to manage all of this by ourselves.” Jiwoo let out a relieved breath, fixing the small chestnut-colored apron of her uniform.

Chaewon let out a small yell, whose reason couldn’t be deciphered by the other two, that stared at the girl with amused faces. Some seconds passed and Jiwoo finally started connecting the dots, remembering the girl Chaewon had told her about the previous day and automatically raised an eyebrow, when she understood the reason behind Chaewon’s reaction, the girl suddenly found this entire situation the funniest.

“Hey… Sooyoung, can you um, describe me this girl?” Jiwoo was sure she saw sweat forming on Chaewon’s forehead as she said this.

Sooyoung took some seconds before answering, still curious about the sudden question. She didn’t know why Chaewon wanted her to describe the girl if she was going to see her in just a few minutes. “Um, long straight black hair… Not much shorter than me”

“Oh my god” Chaewon put both of her hands on her face, feeling the heat on her cheeks.

 “Oh, it’s true, you don’t know yet Sooyoung but…” Jiwoo walked slowly towards Chaewon from the back, slowly putting her hands on top of her shoulders and pressing slightly. “Our Chae has fallen in love at first sight”

She could feel Chaewon’s muscles tensing under her grip, and from the corner of her eye she could perfectly see Sooyoung cracking a smile, almost breaking into laughter.

“That’s not it, Jiwoo!” Chaewon shook her shoulders, trying to push Jiwoo aside at all costs.

“‘ _I saw this girl looking at our hiring notice and I went to speak with her but she was like super pretty and I panicked’”_ Jiwoo sang in an annoying voice, already running away from the girl who was being mocked, perfectly knowing what awaited her.

“Kim Jiwoo!” Chaewon grunted, clenching her fists and making a single kick on the floor.

Jiwoo was already hiding behind Sooyoung, who just watched with an amused smile. It had been so long since the café was that lively so early in the morning, no one was complaining though.

“Chaewon, it’s okay, just don’t forget to invite us to your wedding” Sooyoung muttered sounding pretty serious, her acting skills were really something else. Chaewon looked like she couldn’t believe her ears.

“Sooyoung, c’mon not you too…” She started looking pretty flustered, so the two girls decided to let her be. That Hyejoo girl really did leave an important impact on Chaewon, that was for sure.

“Anyway, I interviewed her yesterday and everything went smoothly. It’s her first part-time job but I have high expectations. Please help her if she needs it, I’m counting on you, girls.”

Everyone fell silent when the girl in question appeared in front of the café. Chaewon’s face went redder than the roses decorating the ceiling in top of the door.

Sooyoung immediately went back to work mode, and approached the new girl with a smile.

“Good morning, come with me”

Hyejoo and Sooyoung disappeared somewhere in the café, leaving Jiwoo and Chaewon in charge of setting everything up for a new day of work. For Jiwoo, it seemed like things could be prepared later, as she run towards Chaewon with the biggest “what on earth” face.

When she finally got to Chaewon’s side she pinched both of her cheeks, looking directly into her eyes. “You didn’t tell me she was _that_ pretty. It’s insane!

Chaewon shook her hands nervously and jumped in her place dramatically “I _told_ you!”

Jiwoo let out a breath and proceeded to fill her lungs once more, her face turning serious all of a sudden. “I swear I’m gonna help you two end up together”

Chaewon rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you rushing into things too much? I just think she is very pretty, I don’t even know her”  
Jiwoo’s forehead furrowed. “Yet”

They were both so dramatic.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“So tomorrow you will officially start working, right? Jiwoo asked, opting to take the same way home as Hyejoo, as the two found out that they lived quite close to each other.

“Yes, I’ll do my best. Your name is Jiwoo, right?” Hyejoo scratched her neck nervously.

Jiwoo nodded, with her signature toothy smile not leaving her face. “Don’t worry we’ll help you with everything. At first it looks hard but you’ll see how fun it is”

Hyejoo smiled awkwardly, still looking at the ground with each step she took. The day had gone by much faster than she anticipated, which she thought it was a good thing, to Hyejoo, it seemed like everyone in the café was especially close in a good way, and even if that made her feel out of place at times, the other girls were making sure to add Hyejoo to that little family even since day one, that had just been today.   
“You seem to get along really well” Hyejoo whispered, making sure it was enough to the other girl to hear.

“Yeah, it’s been a long time since all of us we work there, and as we are just us we ended up becoming that close” Jiwoo explained. “But don’t worry you’ll soon catch up with everything”

Jiwoo’ s reassuring smile was enough to make Hyejoo feel better and her body no longer seemed tense to Jiwoo’s eyes. Hyejoo didn’t know Jiwoo yet, but her first impression was definitely a good one, after all, Hyejoo was the kind of person that got along pretty well with people like Jiwoo, somehow this people gave her positive and bubbly vibes that quickly passed on to her too, they would definitely complement well.

“Thank you, to be honest I was still feeling nervous, but now I’m much better”

Eventually, both girls reached an empty crossroad, there were no vehicles to be seen and pedestrians could be counted on the fingers of one hand. “That’s what I wanted to hear” Jiwoo tapped on Hyejoo’s left shoulder twice earning a soft giggle from the younger girl. “Make sure to be punctual tomorrow!”  
Hyejoo nodded “I will. See you tomorrow”

Jiwoo smiled back and waved her hand, still not moving from her place and watching the other girl eventually disappear through the street. Then, she started walking towards her house, enjoying the night’s breeze and the light of the city that made everything look as if it was still early in the morning. Jiwoo searched for her earphones on her pocket, ready to listen to some of her favorite tracks before getting home, as she always did. But suddenly the phone in her right hand started vibrating, and then the screen lit up with a new message, Jiwoo looked attentively. It was Sooyoung’s.

_“Already going home?”_ Sooyoung’s message was followed by a sad emoji.

Jiwoo stopped walking and moved over to the other side of the street, not to disturb other passersby, while still looking at her phone’s screen, the corners of her mouth almost forming a smile.

_“Maybe…”_ Jiwoo giggled expectant, seeing that Sooyoung was already typing as soon as she had finished reading the other girl’s short answer.

_“Come over”_

A smug grin made its way into Jiwoo’s face and she held the device in her hands tightly while thinking what she should reply to that, her heart skipped a beat.

  _“On my way”_

Jiwoo put her phone back inside her pocket and with a breathy laugh resumed her walk, this time in Sooyoung’s house direction.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Oh, I see” Yerim glanced over the new staff member with curious eyes. “Is she doing well?”  
Jiwoo listened to Yerim while she cleaned the table in front of her, focused in her task.

“Well…”

A loud thud could be heard through the café’s walls, interrupting Jiwoo’s words and making half of the people there raise their heads. Yerim didn’t need Jiwoo’s answer then, as she saw Hyejoo immediately bending down and fidgeting while trying to clean up the spilled drinks.

Jiwoo scratched her head, more worried than upset, and was about to go and help Hyejoo until she saw Chaewon already running towards her with a mop in her right hand.

“It’s okay, leave it to me”

Hyejoo looked really upset then and let out a couple of shaky breaths. She was starting to get very antsy with all this continuous series of slip-ups and the whole ordeal was soon making her feel truly disappointed with herself. The worst part for her was making the other girls worry, she thought it would be a billion times better if they’d just got mad at her. Maybe she was just being too hard on herself.

The blonde girl got her task done in a matter of seconds and quickly glanced towards Hyejoo, who was occupying herself with other things, knitting her eyebrows and trying to not screw up anymore.

Slowly, Chaewon made her way towards her side, carefully pulling the sleeves of the taller girl’s uniform trying to get her attention. “Don’t think about it too much, it’s just your first week”

Chaewon’s lips formed a pout looking directly at the girl in front of her, kind of afraid of her possible reaction. Sadly, Hyejoo got away from Chaewon’s grip, her expression still showing nothing but irritation.

“It won’t happen again, I promise”  
Chaewon took a step backwards, opting to leave the other girl alone, as she was clearly still upset. She figured that it would be a matter of time until Hyejoo started to cool off and feel more comfortable around the café, Chaewon remembered then her own first weeks there and was able to understand and connect with the other girl, so she just let her be. “Fine”

With all this situation aside, the café seemed really full that morning. And among the people there, there were all the girls from the not yet formed group. Haseul and Yeojin were sitting together as always, chatting with Jungeun and Jinsol, who were having a cold drink; Yerim had been talking to Jiwoo until the incident with Hyejoo, Kahei and Hyunjin were in the same table again, not talking about anything in particular, and finally there was Heejin who was sitting at one of the chairs closest to the counter, as always, and reading something in her phone.

Jinsol, who turned her head slightly, enough to look at the entirety of the café, smiled at the scenery. She looked at the girls sitting beside her next and opened her mouth, instantly catching their attention.

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it a lot of times but nobody suggests a thing” Jinsol laughed. “Not even a date”

Jungeun giggled back. “You’re right, we should do something about it, at this rate summer is gonna end”  
Yeojin clapped her hands, her eyes showing a glimpse of determination. “Come on!  Let’s talk to the others!” With that said, Haseul, Jungeun and Jinsol got up as if someone had pressed a button, and followed a hyped Yeojin that dashed in the counter’s direction.

“Hey, Sooyoung” Haseul said, waiting until the other girl had finished whatever she had been doing. “We’ve been talking about hanging out a day of these, all of us”

The corners of her mouth formed the brightest smile, and put everything she was doing aside, just to listen to the four girls in front of her. Sooyoung would make sure to find time for them, that was for sure.

“That’s a really good idea, any ideas yet?”

“Not really, we wanted to talk to you first” Jungeun answered. “Jiwoo, Chaewon and the new girl should definitely come too”

Sooyoung closed her eyes briefly, thinking about the ideal date. Obviously, it couldn’t be on a working day, they couldn´t just leave the café. While she was still thinking, she noticed a pair of eyes stealing glances at her in a childlike way, as if asking if it was okay for her to go too. Sooyoung smiled at Heejin, that averted her gaze as soon as she was caught staring, blushing slightly.

“Wait. One more thing, I think Heejin wants to come along too.” The four girls couldn’t stop themselves from turning their heads towards the girl in question, who just laughed awkwardly.

“Of course!” Haseul took a couple of steps forward, until she was beside the younger girl. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself, I’m Haseul” Heejin blushed and gave her a soft smile, muttering next a low ‘nice to meet you’

“The more the merrier!” Jinsol exclaimed, jumping slightly in her place.

In a matter of seconds, Yerim burst onto the scene putting both of her hands in her waist and looking at the other girls in disbelief. “Have you forgotten about Kahei and me?” As she said this, Kahei peeped over Yerim’s shoulder, a funny expression showing in her face. The girls then stared back at the duo with similar faces, and from time to time soft chuckles could be heard.

“Oh, _you”_ Jungeun joked, gaining a hard push from Yerim on her shoulder, that almost sent her to the ground. Once they were all reunited, Kahei kept on looking back at the table she had been sitting at, staring at someone in particular with caring eyes, giving off this older sister vibes that were so like her.

Hyunjin looked back at her, and as soon as their gazes met she averted her eyes, like if she had nothing to do with what the rest of the girls were talking about. This whole happening that had just been a matter of a couple of seconds was noticed by Heejin, which as usual, couldn’t get her eyes off Hyunjin, and had been eyeing the girl since that whole conversation started.

Heejin took a couple of anxious glances at the café’s floor and corners, and after gulping one last time she decided to get up from her seat and walk towards the girl sitting alone by the window. Some thoughts crossed her mind while she dragged her feet across the wooden floor of the café, one of them was that maybe her next actions would be considered selfish by the rest of the girls, but she really wanted to ask Hyunjin, so much that she thought it was worth it being a little bit selfish.

It didn’t cross her mind that the other girls would never think about what she was going to do as something selfish, though. In fact, Sooyoung had been waiting for this to happen all along.

“Hey…Hyunjin” Heejin began, her voice low, almost whispering. “We’ve been thinking about hanging out a day of these, wanna come along?”  
Hyunjin’s eyes widened, her fingers drawing circles in the table and the tea cup resting on the table almost forgotten. “Oh… Sure”  
Heejin smiled, genuinely this time. Hyunjin thought then that she would love to see her smile like that again; she felt the corners of her own mouth going up too. “When?”

“We were talking about that just now, come with us” Heejin started walking back in the other girl’s direction, beckoning Hyunjin to follow her. The girl complied, and was soon beside the rest of the girls, listening attentively.

“You are coming too, right?” Kahei said, more like a statement than an actual question. Hyunjin nodded, looking carefully at the other girls’ reactions, only to find smiles directed at her.

“Perfect! Now we just need a date” Jinsol said, getting to the difficult part and making the rest of the girls fall silent, every one of them thinking thoroughly.

“God, there aren’t many holidays” Yerim protested.

“I can’t believe us.” Sooyoung muttered suddenly, making all the girls look at her. “Why any of us airheads thought about it? There’s a holiday sooner than we think”

When Sooyoung said that, the rest realized. Maybe they were really airheads. “Oh god, you’re right” Haseul mumbled, and then broke into laughter. “Liberation Day, it’s in mid-August. The café’s not open then, right?”

“No, we’re closed that day.”

“But…” Yeojin started, her voice indicating disappointment. “There’s still more than two weeks for that”

Jinsol let out a breathy laugh, tapping the younger girl’s head. “Yeah, but there’s no other day” Yeojin just puffed at that and crossed her arms, but if she was being honest, it was nothing more but exaggeration, if it was about waiting then she would wait as much as it took.

“I think, we should just hang out here” Heejin said, not thinking about it too much and just letting what she thought out of her mouth in the most sincere way.

“Here? At the café?” Yerim asked, contemplating the idea and being cool with it.

“Well, maybe Sooyoung and the rest prefer going somewhere else, you know?” Haseul suggested, thinking that they would probably want to be away from the café just for a bit.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea” Sooyoung said. “We’ll have the café just for us”

Once Sooyoung agreed everyone else seemed to like the idea, just them there would definitely be fun. “I’ll bring some board games; we’ll keep this up until early morning!” Yerim announced, clapping her hands in anticipation.

In a matter of seconds, the rest started to catch up with Yerim’s perkiness, and they began adding more things to the to-do list. “Don’t forget about snacks!” Jungeun said next.

“And booze!” Jinsol yelled.

“No booze” Sooyoung replied, eyeing the other girl with a warning glance and gaining a pout from her. “Think about the kids”  

Yeojin raised her eyebrows and averted her gaze, not really wanting to take part in the conversation.

“Now I can’t wait” Haseul stated, her voice loud and filled with bubbliness. Jungeun looked at her from the corner of her eye and smiled, feeling her heart make a little jump. “Then, it’s decided!”

The girls looked at each other then, it was a bit strange the way they ended up meeting each other, but it definitely wasn’t regretted. Probably it was exactly the fact that it wasn’t a normal encounter what it made it so exciting, it made them feel like they were all in school again and that they all lived in a different world, one filled with hope and bright smiles.

Every year August always seemed to arrive painfully fast, so much that July almost didn’t exist. But this time looking forward to August was a real thing, and days passed by too slow for the girls’ liking.

 

        

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, last teaser got me screaming, I can't wait for their debut!! I'm so excited  
> I'm so glad I decided to stan Loona.


	5. Summer nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was kind of hard to write but fun nonetheless, hope you like it. Thanks again for the kudos and comments!

**August**

“I don’t know what to do anymore!” Jungeun rolled over in Jinsol’s neatly made bed, not being aware of the girl’s annoyed gaze.

“God, I’ve never seen you so whipped for someone before” Jinsol sneered, trying to push Jungeun out of her bed and failing miserably.

The evening sun seeped through the almost closed blinds of the room, it was one of those lazy summer days in which you just want to lay in bed and do nothing. Jungeun had spent all day at Jinsol’s apartment, the two of them wasting their time playing videogames and binge-watching some of their favorite series, eventually things led to talking about girls, it always did somehow.

Jungeun had been really quiet during the whole conversation, to the point that Jinsol started to get antsy and irritated at the girl in front of her, not too much later, though, a few questions and stares at Jungeun were enough to make the girl spit out and admit her crush on Haseul, earning an amused    expression from Jinsol, who covered her mouth with both hands and burst into laughter not much later.

A furrow made its way to Jungeun’s forehead, who crossed her arms before a blush spread across her face. “What’s so funny?”

“Look, what could go wrong? Ask her out” Jinsol said, as if her words hadn’t already crossed Jungeun’s mind a billion times before. She ignored the younger girl’s question completely.

“It’s not that easy… Besides, I only see her at the café, if I ask her out she may feel uncomfortable, we don’t know each other that much”

This time it was Jinsol’s forehead the furrowed one, slowly losing her patience as seconds passed. “You are thinking too much” Jungeun hid her face beneath her hands and let out a groan out of desperation, her heart beating loudly in her chest.

“Oh my god” Jinsol whispered, doing her best not to let Jungeun hear the soft chuckle escaping from her mouth. “Aren’t you overreacting?”  
“Can you blame me?” Jungeun muttered, punching the pillow underneath her head several times. “She is just so-” “Okay, okay I get it” Jinsol didn’t let the girl finish, she knew that once she started talking about something she liked she would be unstoppable.

Two days left.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“So you two are really close” Yerim stated, turning the aircon on while Yeojin pressed the ‘on’ button on her ps4.

“Yeah, I’ve been friends with her brother since middle school so I ended up spending more time in their house than in mine”

The screen lit up and Yerim sat on the floor, with her back hitting the bed behind her. Yeojin grabbed the nearest controller and passed it to Yerim, who took it carefully. “This is so cool, I only have an old Nintendo that keeps on crashing every time I turn it on”

Yeojin laughed as she saw the other girl looking through the games showing on screen, not being able to decide which one to play. “Are you into shooters?” Yeojin asked then, helping Yerim with her indecision. The girl just nodded, letting Yeojin in charge of configuring the game as to play in multiplayer mode, watching intensively the colors flashing in front of her eyes. 

At some point, maybe because they were close in age, Yeojin and Yerim started becoming closer with each other, faster than with the rest of girls. They would have gone somewhere else, but with the last heat wave, that was still hitting the country, they decided it was the best to stay at home. So there were they, playing videogames. It was the kind of thing that always worked against boredom.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow” Yerim muttered, at some point after their fifth round.

Yeojin smiled and pressed play one more time.

 

* * *

 

 

 _“Ready for tonight?”_ Hyunjin smiled at the message showing on the screen of her phone, thinking about how funny it was that they were all so excited for today, including herself.

Last time they met in the café, Heejin and Hyunjin decided to exchange numbers and were now chatting about what they should bring with them for that night.

 _“Of course I am. I’ll bring some drinks”_ Hyunjin replied, while walking in circles inside her small bedroom, eventually letting her back hit the mattress of the bed.

 _“Um… I thought Jungeun was in charge of that”_ Heejin replied back, waiting for Hyunjin’s response without taking her eyes off the screen.

Hyunjin then had an idea, and started typing on her phone, seeing that Heejin was still online. _“You have Sooyoung’s number? I think it’s better if we make a group and talk there”_

Heejin took some seconds before answering, thinking about what Hyunjin had just suggested. _“Okay”_ Truth be told, Heejin was a bit hesitant to text Sooyoung, but in the end she did as Hyunjin said and in a matter of a few minutes the group chat was created.

Tons of messages flashed before Heejin’s eyes, almost not letting her find the right moment to type her own, but making her smile nonetheless.

_“Okay, so Heejin and Hyunjin are buying the drinks, make sure to buy them in the last moment to keep ‘em cold”_

When Heejin finished reading the message she felt her heart skip a beat, for some reason she wasn’t too excited about going with Hyunjin. It made her feel anxious and she didn’t know why.

Then her phone vibrated again, but this time it was a message from Hyunjin. _“Is 8pm okay for you? It would be too hot if it’s before that”_

Heejin checked the temperature on her phone, seeing that Hyunjin was right. _“Sure. Let’s meet up at the pharmacy next to the café?”_

 _“’kay”_ The text was soon followed by a happy emoji that made Heejin crack a smile.

 

Hyunjin looked at her watch for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes, grabbing the strap of the handbag that hanged from her shoulder. As expected, everyone was leaving their houses now that it wasn’t as hot as in the morning.

Heejin finally arrived, panting slightly and holding her knees from running all the way there. “Sorry, I had something to do”

Hyunjin waved her hand several times “It’s okay, you shouldn’t have run!” Heejin laughed at Hyunjin’s words, catching her breath for a moment. Then she stretched her back, finally meeting the other girl’s gaze. They both fell silent for a moment, and Heejin suddenly panicked. “O-Okay, where should we go? Almost everything is closed today…”

“Oh… yeah. Don’t worry, I know where” Hyunjin turned around and started walking. Soon, Heejin was by her side moving with tiny steps and looking at the ground.

“Is it very far from here?”

“Not really, we’ll get there in five minutes” Hyunjin answered, slightly turning her head to the right in order to look at the other girl’s face, who was slightly taken aback by the unexpected eye contact.

Heejin nodded, having to take bigger steps to match Hyunjin, who had suddenly speeded up. Heejin tried hard to keep up with the other girl, but was soon starting to feel breathless “Hey… You’re walking too fast”

“S-Sorry” Hyunjin stopped in her tracks at hearing Heejin’s words, just noticing that she was right and that she was almost running. “I usually walk like this…” She scratched her neck while saying this.

“No wonder you’re in the basketball team…” Heejin tried to catch her breath for the second time in the day, and resumed her walk with slower steps this time. Hyunjin let out a soft laugh, not realizing that they had almost walked past the grocery store. “Here it is”

 

As expected, the place wasn’t too big but it had what they needed for sure, so they both stepped inside, welcoming the fresh air provided by the air conditioner.

“So, let’s see” Hyunjin swiped through the screen of her phone, re-reading the texts of the group chat. “Everyone is saying pretty much the same, coke, sprite…”

Heejin made a mental note. “Okay, so why don’t we just take a bit of everything?”

Hyunjin nodded, walking towards the right aisle just where she knew the drinks were. At the sight of the many different kinds of drinks she suddenly felt thirsty and then thought that buying all of them wouldn’t be a bad idea at all, if only she had the money. Hyunjin shook her head in order to focus and choose a few of them. “Heejin, why don’t you go see if there’s anything else we can get?”

Heejin nodded and ran towards the next aisle, leaving Hyunjin in charge of the drinks. Now that Heejin was gone, a strange feeling took over Hyunjin, it was definitely not a bad one, though. As she took the cans in her arms and put them in the cart she felt unexpectedly _happy_ , almost making the smile in her face look like a kid’s one. But at the same time, her heart pounded in a way that wasn’t making her feel happy exactly, it was much more like _agitation_ , this two different feelings clashed in a way that took the usual dizziness of summer very far away from Hyunjin, it made her feel alive.

When she was done, she went to check on Heejin. For some reason, Hyunjin walked slowly, not wanting Heejin to see her. Luckily for her, Heejin was too mesmerized by the big sacks of sweets in front of her, and the aisle was longer than she thought, so Hyunjin was practically standing in the middle of it like an idiot, looking at Heejin from the distance.

Hyunjin had already noticed from staring at the girl other times in the café, but she found herself too attracted to her, so much that it was enough to leave her hypnotized.

 

As she stood there, in the almost empty aisle, she found herself unable to get her eyes off Heejin’s round nose and pretty lips.

All this time, the feeling of having a crush on someone had been totally unknown for Hyunjin, she had wondered what it would feel like, and now she was almost sure she knew.

And it didn’t feel bad at all.

“Oh, you finished already…?” Heejin asked, her lips forming a pout and making Hyunjin step out of her daze.

“Is something wrong?”

When Hyunjin got to Heejin’s side, she noticed she was holding some chocolate-filled croissants and everything fell into place. “No! It’s okay…” Heejin put back the food in the shelf forcefully, as if Hyunjin hadn’t already understood what happened. “You want to eat that, right?”

Heejin blushed and Hyunjin laughed.

“It’s okay, to be honest I also want to. Let’s buy two”

“But-”

“No one will notice” Hyunjin winked and took the food in her hands, Heejin just followed her, walking a step or two behind.

Once they had paid everything they went back outside, immediately missing the cool air of the store. The bags weren’t too heavy, and the café wasn’t too far from there, so they were lucky.

Hyunjin stopped walking and put down the plastic bag. “Wait, let’s eat this first” With a quick movement of her hands she was already opening the plastic, taking out one of the croissants and handing the other one to Heejin. “Watch out, the chocolate is dripping a little”

Heejin took the croissant carefully from Hyunjin’s hand, and made sure she didn’t get chocolate on her clothes. “Thanks”

Hyunjin smiled when she saw the girl take a bite from her food, and not much later she did too, welcoming the sweet feeling in her mouth. “I always buy this, it’s the best”

“I know… I never get tired of it” Heejin took another bite, a bigger one this time. Hyunjin laughed, when she saw the bit of chocolate on the other girl’s cheek. “You have chocolate on your cheek”

“Hm?”

Hyunjin moved closer and wiped the stain on the other girl’s face with her thumb, making Heejin suddenly step back, a slight blush appearing across her cheeks. “I-I have some tissues, thanks…”

Heejin looked through her purse, not noticing Hyunjin’s amused expression whose eyes were still glued to her. “You are so cute”

Heejin lost all her focus on finding the tissues in her purse and lift her head back to its normal position, looking at the other girl’s eyes directly. “W-what are you saying so suddenly?” Eye contact didn’t last for much more because Heejin finally took out a tissue, trying to hide her blush under the white fabric. Hyunjin paid no mind and kept on chewing the food, smiling silently. Oh, how sure was she now about her crush on Heejin, and how she had no plans to hiding it.

Heejin coughed. “Let’s get going”

They did so, and that time it looked like Heejin was the one walking fast.

 

* * *

 

 

The café looked exactly like always did, obviously, but now that it was completely empty and chairs were all placed over the tables it really looked like a whole different place to Hyunjin and Heejin’s eyes.

“Oh, you are already here!” Jinsol greeted the younger girls, waving her hand vigorously. “Kahei is here too!”

As she said this, Kahei appeared from the kitchen, carrying two plastic bags, they didn’t look heavy so it wasn’t food probably. The girl smiled at them and got closer. “Oh, you brought the drinks. Why don’t you put them over there?” Kahei pointed to behind the counter, where other plastic bags there could be seen. Hyunjin took the one Heejin was carrying and did as told, placing both bags carefully on the floor.

“W-What’s that?” Heejin spoke slowly while pointing to the plastic bags Kahei was holding, a hint of shyness in her voice, as it was the first time she talked with her.

“Oh, hahah” Kahei lifted both bags playfully. “Sparklers”

Heejin’s eyes beamed after hearing that; she had loved those since she was a child. Sometimes when it was a special occasion, her parents would buy them and lit them all together in the garden, Heejin would run through the place shaking the sparkler until the light faded away. As years passed, this little tradition came to an end, so Heejin no longer had an excuse to buy them, that’s why she was so excited.

“That’s a really good idea!” Heejin covered her mouth, surprised by the sudden raise of her own voice. “Where are we going to light them, though?

“There’s a little terrace at the back” Kahei said, gesturing its location with her head. Heejin nodded.

“Are you in the same year as Hyunjin?” Kahei suddenly asked then, staring directly at Heejin. “Yeah, but not in the same class”

Kahei nodded in understanding. “I’m the new coach of the basketball team, I guess you didn’t know”

“Ah, yeah. Sooyoung told me” Kahei smiled, then the door opened, revealing Jungeun and Yerim whose faces looked like kid’s ones. “We are here!”

Hyunjin raised her hand “Hi!”

Sooyoung appeared from behind, and the sight was quite funny. Her face was covered in flour, the apron she was wearing was pretty much the same, not to say that she had gotten out of the kitchen with a pan still in her hand.

“Girls, give me the sandwiches to put them in the fridge, they are better cold”

“What happened to your face, Sooyoung?” Jungeun asked, walking towards the kitchen.

“It’s not my fault that Jiwoo is still five” As she said this, an eggshell flew through the room, hitting Sooyoung’s back in a matter of a second. “Jiwoo!”

A muffled laugh could be heard from inside the kitchen, and instantly Hyunjin and Heejin looked at each other. The Sooyoung they knew had been always in “work mode” and both had wondered how Sooyoung would be when she was free from that kind of responsibility, and maybe how was her relationship with Jiwoo like too, at the sight of a completely different Sooyoung the girls offered each other a smile, gritting their teeth.

“What’s that smell?” Yerim asked, moving a little towards the kitchen.

“We’re baking a cake” Sooyoung said, picking up the eggshell from the floor.

Everyone’s eyes opened wide. “You always have the best ideas, Sooyoung!”

“Thank you” Heejin gave Sooyoung a thumbs up, which made the woman smile.

“Okay so…, Yeojin and Haseul still haven’t arrived”

“I’ve got a text from Haseul, they are on their way” Jungeun answered right away and Jinsol grinned at how Jungeun’s voice cracked when saying Haseul’s name.

“Where are Hyejoo and Chaewon by the way?” Kahei said. “At the terrace” Sooyoung answered, going back to the kitchen.

Then the door was opened once again and Jungeun quickly averted her gaze from it. “Hi!” Yeojin and Haseul greeted at the same time, making their way towards the middle of the café and being welcomed by the smiles of the rest of the girls.

“Finally, you are the last ones” Yerim said, crossing her arms.

“Oh sorry, how long have you been waiting?” Haseul panicked for a second. “Not much, Yerim is just exaggerating, as always” Jungeun quickly remarked, not missing the sudden change in Haseul’s face.

“What time is it?” Kahei asked, after hugging Haseul briefly. “Almost half past nine” Jinsol switched her phone off after checking the time and walked towards the rest of the girls, Sooyoung and Jiwoo had already left the kitchen.

“I’m kinda hungry” Hyunjin confessed, but soon everyone else agreed with her.

“Maybe we should move to the terrace” Sooyoung said, as she saw that Jiwoo was already rushing towards it.

“Girls, have you finished placing the chairs?” Jiwoo asked the missing pair, who was setting everything up in the terrace

“Yeah” Chaewon spoke in her usual soft voice, rubbing her hands after placing the last chair. Hyejoo and Chaewon managed to prepare everything for the twelve of them to be comfortable there; they even had to put three tables together, as they were so many.

“Hi girls” Jinsol gave Chaewon an affectionate hug. “Is everything ready?” Jinsol looked at Hyejoo then, still hugging Chaewon.

“Hm” Hyejoo nodded.

The girls started taking her seats, unconsciously choosing to sit beside the ones who weren’t close to yet, in order to get to know each other, it was truly endearing, for Sooyoung’s eyes. Jiwoo eyed her, although she didn’t notice, and let out a contented sigh.

It wasn’t dark yet, the sun’s rays still bathed the city and the terrace was soon colored in orange tones, as for the temperature, it wasn’t as hot as before, it was bearable at least.

When Haseul checked that everyone was already in their seats she reached out her arm, looking for the plastic glasses. “Here” Heejin passed them to Haseul, at seeing she was too far to reach. “Thanks” Haseul smiled, proceeding to grab the nearest bottle of soft-drink and start pouring it into the glasses. Soon, everyone was letting the cool liquid slip down their throats.

Jiwoo let out a chuckle.

“What’s the matter?” Kahei asked, an amused grin showing in her face.

“Nothing, it’s just that now that we are all gathered here I don’t know what to say”

Sooyoung, who was sitting by Jiwoo’s side, gave a soft squeeze to her thigh, understanding her girlfriend’s sudden loss of words. But she kind of felt the same, nobody looked like they knew what to say, they were just waiting for someone else to start talking.

“I think we have to start talking about ourselves, most of us don’t know each other yet” Jungeun said, speaking for the rest of the girls, who were thinking the same.

Yeojin nodded, and decided to take the initiative. “I know! We seriously need to do something about it, this is getting boring!” Yeojin then remained silent for a couple of seconds. “Got it!”

The other girls were expectant, looking at the youngest girl with amused faces. “We’ll be taking turns to ask each other whatever we want, it can be anything, just don’t make it boring! How does it sound?”

Everyone agreed with Yeojin, laughing at the girl’s idea, and suddenly they were all excited about it, the girls appreciated the fact that they were being honest and admitted that they still felt a bit out of place, however thanks to Yeojin’s proposal, they finally had an excuse to actually start talking.

Yeojin blushed at being the center of attention all of a sudden.

“Sounds fun, you want to start Yeojin?” Kahei asked, offering the other girl a reassuring smile.

Yeojin shook her hands forcefully, the pink shade that colored her face becoming deeper “No no”

Laughter could be heard then, and Yeojin felt Kahei taping her back. “Okay, I’ll start then!” Jinsol suddenly said, drawing the other girls’ attention. She cleared her throat twice, her eyes roaming around the girls in front of her. “Hm… Hyejoo, right? What do you like doing?” Jinsol started the little game with a basic question, but catching Hyejoo off guard nonetheless.

“Um…” Hyejoo panicked a bit at feeling all the stares upon her. “I play… videogames often”

“Then we’ll get along pretty well!” Jinsol clapped her hands amused, smiling briefly at Hyejoo. “Your turn”  
The rest listened carefully, mentally thanking Yeojin for the idea. Not only was this a good way of getting to know each other, but also it was the kind of thing that would start escalating quickly, soon it would be all laughs and everyone would have loosen up by the time.

Hyejoo didn’t really have a specific question she wanted to make, so she chose whoever she laid her eyes on first. “Um… Yeojin” The younger girl looked at Hyejoo, waiting for her question. “Favorite…book?” Hyejoo said the first thing that came to her mind.

Yeojin froze “I don’t really…read”  
“Pff” Haseul’s head was smacked in that same moment by an embarrassed Yeojin.

“Oh, okay” Hyejoo let out a soft giggle, making the rest of the girls smile too.

“There are really interesting books out there Yeojin” Sooyoung said while refilling her glass. The other girl just shrugged.

“Whatever” With a pout, Yeojin continued. “Chae-Chaewon…

“Hm?”

Yeojin fell silent, feeling her cheeks burn. “What would be your ideal present?”

Chaewon didn’t see that kind of question coming, she didn’t even know the answer herself. After some seconds of thinking she found the answer to the other girl’s question, who was drawing circles with her finger in the table. “Bath bombs, definitely”

“Same here, who doesn’t like bath bombs?” Jungeun said. “No one asked” Jinsol stuck her tongue out, noticing the furrow in Jungeun’s forehead and paying no mind.

“Okay, then… Jungeun. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?” Chaewon continued. Jungeun brought one hand to her chin, she hadn’t really thought about that, she had always liked both animals. “I…don’t know? I’ll say dog person, but I like cats too”

Then it was finally Jungeun’s turn and suddenly she felt her heartbeat speed up. She already knew from the start who she wanted to make the question to, but now that the moment had come she started wanting to back out.

“Ha-Haseul…”

Jinsol looked at Jungeun with eyes wide open and a grin on her face, and Yeojin looked at Haseul not much differently. It was almost impossible not to notice that something was going on.

“Your...” Jungeun cleared her throat. “Your ideal first date?”

“Ooh-” Yerim was immediately hit by Jinsol’s elbow “Not now”

Everyone was listening attentively; some of them occasionally took a sip from their drinks, not saying a word.

“I…” Haseul let out a nervous giggle. “I don’t know…”

“Come on! You have to say something” Jiwoo said, making Haseul more tense than she already was. After some seconds, Haseul gave up, and decided to answer honestly.

“Well, something simple. Going for a walk or just staying at home, I guess it’s okay as long as I’m spending time with her…”

Haseul didn’t like the silence that followed her answer and she panicked. “You know, I’m not original, hahah”

“Well, that’s cute. Maybe we should take notes” Jiwoo winked quickly at Haseul, who was still looking down at the table.

“Anyway, my turn now” What Haseul wanted the most right then was to make everyone’s attention to go to somebody else, so her mind worked quickly, trying to find the right question for the right person. She got it.

“Jiwoo, I think at this point everyone wants to know” Jiwoo froze for a second and tried to hide it the best she could, the question that followed wasn’t as bad as she thought, though. “How did you and Sooyoung start dating?”

As Haseul said, it was really something everyone wanted to know. Some of them would admit it and others wouldn’t, but all of them did surely look up to them, they felt like they owed them a lot, somehow. So they wanted to know how did it all start, after all, it was the reason why they were all sitting there together.

Jiwoo looked at Sooyoung for a second before actually answering to Haseul’s question. She met her smile and the expectant eyes from the rest of the girls.

“Well, it was some time ago. We were both still in high school and Sooyoung was this typical popular girl…”

“Hey” Sooyoung protested, still smiling. Jiwoo let out a soft laugh. “And we were both in the school’s band…”

“Really?!” Yerim exclaimed. “Shh, let her talk” Chaewon whispered, her eyes glued to Jiwoo, as if she was watching a movie.

“Well, then I started developing a little crush on her, she was so cool, I’m sure all of you would have fallen for her too” “A _little_ crush?” Sooyoung said, not believing her ears. “Jiwoo, what about that time I found tons of letters in my des-”

“Anyway” Jiwoo continued, not caring about the amused chuckles from the rest of the girls. “One day, after band practice, Sooyoung asked me to grab some ice-creams on the way home. God, this is too cliché now that I think about it. Then we talked and she told me she knew I was the one that wrote all those letters, I remember panicking a lot”

“You were so cute, I almost had to hold you there before you ran off”

Jiwoo blushed a little at the memory. “And then we started dating, as simple as that. Then, at some point she told me about her plan on running a café and everything. Time really goes by fast.”  
Maybe the girls were expecting something different, but the thought of it being so ordinary and movie-like at the same time, warmed their hearts.

“Oh my god, you practically had the love story everyone wishes for!” Chaewon was starting to fangirl over Jiwoo’s story too much, to the point where her words started to become pure exaggeration.

Yerim was about the same, almost jumping from her seat. “Tell us more! What was your first kiss lik-”

Yerim gained a hit in her head instantly, not even being able to finish her sentence. “Calm down, you dumbass” Jinsol laughed despite Yerim’s words.

“Come on Jiwoo, make your question before these girls lose their minds for real”

Jiwoo laughed. “Okay, but let’s stop for a bit, aren’t you hungry?”

Now that Jiwoo said it, the girls started to feel hungry, and decided to stop this little game for a bit. As they expected, they had loosen up a bit after all the talking, at least they didn’t look as stiff as when they just got to the café, it started looking a bit more like a real friends meeting.

“The sandwiches are in the fridge I’ll-” Sooyoung was about to get up but was soon interrupted by Haseul’s hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay I’ll go”

Suddenly, Heejin got up too “I’ll help you!”

Heejin was like that, if she could do anything to help she would. She had been paying attention to the smallest details, and even if it was something as dumb as helping to bring some sandwiches from the fridge she would still do it without hesitation.

After all that happened to her and how warmly she was welcomed in this weird but kind group of people, she felt like she had to return the favor and take the opportunity given to actually start a new life, so she desperately tried to show them that she cared about all of them, it was such a cute and honest gesture that was impossible for the rest of the girls to go unnoticed. They didn’t say a thing, though, but they definitely took it into account.

Both girls got to the kitchen in just a few seconds, and when they opened the fridge they saw that the sandwiches had been divided in two different plates. “Okay I’ll take one, you take the other”

Heejin obliged, taking the plate in her hands carefully.

“Are you having fun?” Haseul spoke in a soft voice, but the simple question still caught Heejin off guard.

“Yes, yes I am” Heejin smiled, being completely honest with the girl in front of her.

“Good” Haseul walked out of the kitchen, being soon followed by a happy Heejin.

When they got back to the terrace the sight before them was much livelier than they would have imagined.

“Kahei, I’m holding a bottle! Stop with the tickling!”  
Hyunjin held the coke bottle with both hands, the liquid threatening to spill on the table, the cap of the bottle forgotten somewhere on the floor.

Jungeun hid her face behind her hands, already seeing where things were going.

However, Yeojin thought it was a good idea to help Kahei and Hyunjin couldn’t handle the sudden attack, finally letting the bottle slip down her hands and hitting the table beneath, that was soon covered in sticky copper-colored liquid.

“I knew it” Sooyoung let out a sigh, getting up to find something to clean the mess, Heejin and Haseul were still holding the sandwiches as they couldn’t put the down in the table until it was dried. They looked at each other and shrugged.

“No, wait! We’ll clean it, it’s our fault” Kahei took Hyunjin’ hand in hers and ran towards the kitchen.

“What do you mean _our_?!”

Hyunjin was dragged into the kitchen, and waited for Kahei to find something to clean the table. However, she was taking longer than she thought.

“Can I ask you something?” A devilish grin appeared in Kahei’s face, as she turned her head to look at Hyunjin. Hyunjin stood still, not really liking the other girl’s expression. “Yes?”  
“That girl, Heejin…” _Oh no_ “Do you like her?”

“Well, yeah”

That was way faster than Kahei had anticipated, no hint of nervousness in Hyunjin’s face could be found either. After some seconds of a completely silent Kahei and a Hyunjin that just blinked while waiting for the other to say something, Kahei finally did.

“Oh, and do you plan to tell her?” Kahei hadn’t thought that Hyunjin would be that honest with her feelings, she remembered then that that was how Hyunjin was, a practical girl. After all, having to hide something was too time-consuming and, in this case, pointless, so Hyunjin just spoke her mind without holding back. “Yeah”

Kahei found Hyunjin’s honesty and straightforwardness amusing and somehow, endearing too. It was not just her words what made her feelings sound so sincere, but also did her body language; Kahei could see that Hyunjin really meant it with only staring at the girl’s round eyes and the faint blush that colored her cheeks.

“Good luck, you two would look great together” Kahei’s mischievous grin appeared again, and along with what she had just said, was enough to make Hyunjin’s cheeks become redder.

“Let’s… go back to the terrace”

Kahei followed Hyunjin silently. She deeply hoped those two could find the happiness Sooyoung and Jiwoo had.

Now it was finally dark, it was really a pity that stars couldn’t be seen due to the light of the city. Everyone’s foreheads were covered in sweat, but now that the sun wasn’t high in the sky and a mild breeze blew, they could enjoy being outside without problem.

The table was quickly dried, and in just a few seconds the girls were eating their sandwiches with contented smiles. More time passed.

“Yeah, she is really good” Yeojin almost smashes her hand on the table. “Show them”

“I’m not singing, Yeojin”

It was one of those situations someone couldn’t just run off, Haseul would make sure Yeojin wasn’t left alive after this.

She closed her eyes and prepared herself for all the pleading that would soon follow.

“Pleaaase sing!”

“Sing!”

There was it. Haseul couldn’t decipher anymore who was talking to her at that point.

“Come on! I’m sure they are tired of always listening to just the three of us” Jungeun said, referring to Jinsol, Yerim and herself, but also using those words as an excuse to get the other girl to sing. “Don’t sing too well, though. You’ll embarrass us.”

That made Haseul let out a soft chuckle, and it was enough to convince her.

“Okay” She sighed “I’m sure you all know this song by IU”  
Everyone fell silent, eyes glued to Haseul who was clearing her throat and regretting her life decisions that same moment.

She started singing then and suddenly everyone was unable to move, except Yeojin, which was looking at the rest with an “I told you” face. Everyone’s eyes were sparkling while listening to the girl, maybe too much for a certain someone’s liking, who tried her best not to let the others hear her heart beating loud.

“Well, that’s it”  
Some seconds of silence followed.

“What the f-!”  
“Haseul why didn’t you tell us you sang so well?!” Jinsol was jumping from her seat at that point “You know, we can always accept a new member in Odd Eye Circle”

It was always like that for Haseul, but she couldn’t help but hide her face in embarrassment every time.

“Wow, this group sure has talented people” Heejin said.

“Yeah, I can sleep for a whole day straight” Yeojin announced, making the girls roll their eyes.

Time passed by, laughter was heard and bonds were made. And no one wanted to go home yet, it was as if the word exhaustion didn’t exist then, like it didn’t have a place in that little secret base.

“So, we didn’t finish the questions thing” Yerim said, taking the last chip from the plate. “Wasn’t it your turn, Jiwoo?”

Jiwoo nodded, putting down her glass. “You are right” She tried to remember who hadn’t answered a question yet, and then the first person she laid her eyes on was Hyunjin.

And of course, after some seconds of thinking, Jiwoo had to make _that_ question. “Hyunjin… Someone told me you are pretty popular at high school” A giggle followed. “Do you have a girlfriend?”  
Everyone cringed at Jiwoo’s poor question choice, she definitely could have thought of something better.

Just before Hyunjin could answer, Hyejoo, who was by Chaewon’s side, bent over and whispered. “Um… does everyone here like girls?”  
Then Chaewon realized Hyejoo was new there and nobody had told her about this, the tone of Hyejoo’s words made Chaewon laugh softly. “Ah, yes”

Hyejoo nodded once, “Oh, okay”

“No, I don’t” Heejin stole unnoticed glances at Hyunjin, pretending not to be interested in the other girl’s answer. “But there’s someone I like”  
Heejin tried her best not to let what she had just heard affect her, but she found herself fidgeting in her seat, unconsciously clenching and unclenching her fists.

“Ooh”

“Really? Is it someone from your school?” Haseul asked, curious about the younger girl. On the other hand, Kahei remained silent, as she knew exactly who she was referring to. The others just listened eagerly.

Hyunjin hesitated a bit before answering, it had been too innocent from her to think the girls wouldn’t ask anything else about the topic. She didn’t want to confess Heejin was the one she liked in front of everyone like that, she knew it would make the girl uncomfortable. But on the other hand, it was really frustrating, because she actually wanted Heejin to take the hint, so she found herself not knowing what to say next.

She looked at Heejin, maybe making it too obvious. But she wasn’t really looking back at her so Heejin didn’t notice.

“Um… yeah”  
Hyunjin was still looking at Heejin, which, as an instinct, looked back. Hyunjin smiled at her and Heejin’s eyes opened wide.

“I see! Good luck with that, Hyunjin!” Jinsol clapped her hands.

“Make sure to introduce her to us someday” Chaewon said, making Hyunjin let out a soft laugh.

Sooyoung listened to everything attentively, not imagining at all that Hyunjin would be interested in someone at that moment. She felt like she was missing out on a lot of things lately. However Sooyoung was an attentive person, and soon started connecting the dots, she felt like an idiot when she finally realized.

She brought a hand to her mouth after the realization, and the first thing she did was to look at Heejin. Then everything fell into place, when Sooyoung saw how Hyunjin was looking at her.

Truth be told, Sooyoung was still feeling a bit worried about Heejin, but she trusted Hyunjin.

“Kahei, why don’t you bring the sparklers? I’ll go get the cake” Sooyoung said, looking briefly at Hyunjin while she got up.

Everyone yelled like kids. Cake? Sparklers? They were excited for sure.

Kahei and Sooyoung soon disappeared inside the café, and the rest of the girls just went on with their chit-chat. Everything was completely different from how things were a couple of hours ago; Jinsol and Hyejoo were at one side of the table, talking about trivial things, at the other side of the table, Yerim, Yeojin, Haseul and Chaewon were engaged in a similar conversation, and then there was Jiwoo, who was showing something to Jungeun, Heejin and Hyunjin on her phone.

It had been pretty easy for all of them to connect so well, the idea of having a meeting all of them was being a big success so far.

Kahei and Sooyoung got back, and everyone went back to their seats, their stomach growled at the sight of the cake.

Just a few minutes later there was no trace of cake in any of the plates. Sooyoung and Jiwoo looked at each other, they had expected the cake to be finished in just a few minutes but not that it would happen so fast. At some point, every plate and leftovers were being taken to the kitchen, leaving the tables empty again.

“Watch out” Jungeun was taking the sparkler off Yeojin’s hand and lighting it herself. “Here”  
Little star-shaped sparks started to ignite from the stick, making the girls not being able to avert their gazes from it, watching as it quickly burned down.

Yeojin looked at her left, and saw that the rest also had sparklers on their hands, some of them staring intensely and others just swaying the stick around. She found curious how such a simple thing could leave someone so mesmerized, but it was actually nice.

“Ouch” Heejin moved her finger away from the sparkler. “Hey, be careful” Haseul took her hand in hers “You okay?”  
“It’s okay, thanks” Heejin took the stick in her hands again, handling it more carefully this time. Looking at the sparks in front of her was making her feel sleepy, or maybe hypnotized would be a better word to describe it.

“I had a lot of fun today, girls”  


“Oh, someone is getting emotional” Jinsol smiled, lighting another sparkler. “Hey, I’m serious” Heejin muttered.

“I also had fun” Yerim said.

“Yeah, me too”

“Same here”

At some point, there were no sparklers left, and from time to time someone let out a yawn. Maybe it was time for them to go back home.

 

 

“Okay girls, let’s call it a night” Sooyoung announced, getting up from her seat first, knowing that if she didn’t then no one would.

Little by little everyone started getting up too, “Yeah, some of us have to work tomorrow” Jiwoo said, yawning just at the thought.

The girls dragged their feet lazily across the café, trying to reach the door the slowest they could, as if trying to postpone their farewell for a bit more.

“Thanks for everything” Haseul said, before getting out of the place “Hope we can meet like this again” Sooyoung smiled at the girl, while waiting for everyone else to go home.

Hyejoo and Chaewon were at the kitchen washing the plates, nobody said they had to but they insisted on helping so there were they.

Despite not minding having to do the dishes, Chaewon let out a yawn, drawing Hyejoo’s attention just then.  “If you want you can leave this to me”  
Chaewon felt all warm inside at the girl’s sudden concern, feeling her cheeks burn a little.

“No, it’s okay. Let’s get this done”

The sound of water splashing on the plates echoed through the kitchen’s walls, and the girls remained silent. Chaewon stole glances at Hyejoo every now and then, but the girl was too focused on her task to even notice.

“Hyejoo, did you have fun?” Chaewon had been actually a bit worried about her, as she hadn’t talked much in the whole night.

“Yes” Hyejoo furrowed her forehead while trying to clean an especially big stain from one plate, her cheeks growing at the pout her lips formed and making Chaewon immediately want to squish them. “Everyone is so nice”  
Chaewon was happy, and felt like she didn’t have to worry any more, she smiled and continued with her task, enjoying the other girl’s company.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey”

Heejin was about to head home, after sending a text to her parents saying that she would be right back, but Hyunjin suddenly took her hand, not letting her move.

“Let’s go for a walk?”  
Heejin’s eyes opened wide, thinking for a moment that the other girl would be probably just joking, she turned her phone on, 3am August 16th showing in the corner of the screen. “Isn’t it… a bit too late?”

Heejin wasn’t stupid, though. She perfectly knew why Hyunjin wanted to be alone with her, and she kind of panicked at the thought. But on the other hand, she wanted to hear what Hyunjin wanted to say so just a little push would be enough to make her accept the other girl’s offer.

“We can just take a longer way home” Hyunjin smiled, and Heejin just couldn’t say no. “Okay…”  
“Han river sounds good?”  
That was actually a bit far from her house, but she found herself agreeing.

They walked in silence, enjoying the summer night and somehow not finding annoying the occasional cricket’s cries, that was the only sound that filled the streets.

Not much later, they got to one of the river sides and walked through the promenade, noticing that there were still people in the nearby parks. Heejin really liked that place, it felt like they were in a completely different city, not such a big one like Seoul, but more like a small town, she really appreciated the contrast that the river and the whole promenade provided to the whole city.

“Today was fun, we got to see different sides of everyone”

“You’re right, Sooyoung surprised me, to be honest” Heejin admitted, hitting the nearest rock with her foot.

“Yeah” Hyunjin laughed. “Everything was great but maybe I shouldn’t have eaten so much cake”  
Heejin laughed at the other girl’s upset expression, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of Hyunjin’s pretty face illuminated by the light of the street.

“Oh look” Hyunjin was suddenly distracted, pointing her finger at a cat that walked slowly not too far from them. The little animal stopped moving, and was now licking one of his paws.

Hyunjin lowered her body, and started crouching towards the cat, Heejin walked some steps behind, trying not to make any loud noise that could scare away the animal.

Hyunjin took the cat in her arms and gestured Heejin to go sit with her by one of the nearest benches. She pet the animal in her lap with the utmost care, making the cat blissfully close his eyes and purr silently.

Heejin dared to pet the cat too, just below his chin, just where it seemed like he liked it. “He looks a bit like you” Heejin confessed, laughing softly at her own words. Hyunjin took the cat in her hands again and moved him in order to make his and her face level. “You think so?”

Heejin laughed again, still not being able to take away the pressure in her chest. Hyunjin put the cat down in her lap, and soon he was trying to grab her hand, giving tiny bites to Hyunjin’s fingers.

“Hyunjin…” Heejin needed to say something as soon as possible because she could no longer take the uneasy feeling that started spreading through her lungs with each passing second. “About what you said-”

“Yes.” Hyunjin didn’t let Heejin finish, because she knew it was not an easy thing to ask, a sudden need of protectiveness took over her at seeing the faint blush spreading in Heejin’s cheeks. “Well, I-”

But Hyunjin was a human being too, and then she felt something she hadn’t ever felt. The words started building up in her throat, and the girl just couldn’t let them out. In her mind she had sounded so brave and straightforward, but now that the time had come she wasn’t more than a scaredy-cat, just like the one resting on her lap.

She met Heejin’s gaze, which was pretty much like hers.

“Yeah, you… you are the one I like” Hyunjin swallowed the lump in her throat, it felt way more small now that the words that were previously stuck in there were let out.

Then she felt braver than she had ever felt.

“I like you a lot, Heejin” Hyunjin repeated, staring right into the other girl’s eyes and sounding a lot more confident.

Well, Heejin was at a loss of words. She kept on moving her gaze from her lap to Hyunjin’s eyes several times, trying to find the right words. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything, I understa-”

“No, I…” Heejin scratched her head. “I like you too” She couldn’t believe that she actually managed to say that.

Hyunjin’s eyes sparkled and opened wide, now finding the last minutes the funniest thing, as if she hadn’t felt like dying during those. The cat jumped from her lap at the sudden change of position, as Hyunjin had turned her body to wrap her arms around Heejin’s shoulders, making the girl’s head rest just under her chin and making a pleasant warmth spread through her lungs.

Heejin could have easily fallen asleep thanks to Hyunjin’s soothing heartbeat and nice smell, but her own heart rate made a good job keeping her awake. She had been complaining about summer’s heat just a few hours ago but now she definitely didn’t mind the warmth radiating from Hyunjin’s body. “Then… does that mean we’re dating now!?” Hyunjin’s eyes sparkled like the ones of a kid and her face showed an excitement that had never been seen by Heejin before, she couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah…”  
She snuggled further into Hyunjin’s arms, slowly bringing her own arms to wrap them around the girl’s back.  “I… have never dated anyone before, so-”

“It’s okay” Hyunjin laughed softly. “Neither have I, so we’ll figure everything out together, okay?” Heejin raised her head, looking at Hyunjin with a sincere smile. “Okay”

Then Hyunjin felt something wet hit her cheek, and when she turned her head to find where it came from she realized they were the sprinklers of the park that had just been turned on.

“Oops”

Both girls got immediately up, running to somewhere out of the reach of the water. They let out a soft chuckle, thanking their legs for getting them out of there so fast. “Maybe we should go home” Hyunjin said, getting an approving nod from Heejin.

They walked in silence, as they always did, but their minds had so many thoughts running through them that they needed some time to process everything, so now the fact that neither of them were talking was understandable.

At some point they had to part ways, but they both were so reluctant that some minutes passed with them just standing in the middle of the street, waiting for the other to say goodbye. From time to time they stole glances at each other, still not saying a word.

“See you tomorrow?” Hyunjin asked while playing with the ends of her shorts, as if there was something still left to say or do.

“Sure” Heejin smiled, and was just about to turn around and start walking towards her house until Hyunjin suddenly took her hand in hers. “Wait…”  
Heejin looked at Hyunjin puzzled, and for some reason her heart started beating fast again. “Can I… kiss you?”  
Hyunjin’s cheeks turned pink in a matter of a second, and Heejin was left with her mouth hanging open at the sudden question, feeling her cheeks getting warmer too. She panicked, her eyes went in every direction but Hyunjin’s.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, she was just nervous and Hyunjin could see it. Heejin just nodded slowly, still not being able to look at the other girl’s eyes. Hyunjin gulped and got closer little by little, finding cute how stiff Heejin looked with her feet pinned to the ground and her weirdly straightened back.

“You sure?”

Heejin nodded again, more forcefully. Hyunjin smiled right away while looking at how her eyelids closed and how she held her breath.

She slowly pressed their lips together, it was clumsy and brief, just like any other first kiss but it was enough to leave both girls breathless, trying to process what just happened while staring at each other, almost dumbfounded.

They burst into laughter not much later, both of them thinking that it hadn’t been as bad as they thought it would be.

“Well…”

“Yeah, that was-”

“Nice”

“Yeah” Heejin was still laughing, forgetting about the warmth in her cheeks, it was as if the kiss had taken every fear away.

“Okay, we’d better go now” Hyunjin looked at her watch and gave one last smile to Heejin.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m @new9daze on twitter, you can follow me there, I need mutuals :D


	6. Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the last chapter is here, hope you like it.

**Present**

“Is this a joke, Sooyoung?”

Yerim stepped inside the café, well, or whatever that place was now. The sound of glass breaking under her shoe filled her ears with every step she took.

Sooyoung remained silent, still with the same expression showing on her face and standing against one of the walls.

“What…happened?” Jungeun didn’t want to look any more at the sight before her eyes, she didn’t even dare to go past the main door, so she just stood there, contemplating everything with trembling legs.

Yerim’s jaw clenched, tears threatening to fall. “Isn’t it obvious?” Her voice was filled with rage and quivered at every syllable, making the rest of the girls aware of what was happening and finally process everything.

“We didn’t do anything… come on, we have gone unnoticed all this time, so why…”

“Fucking homophobes” Yerim cut Jinsol off, and gave a hard kick to a broken rafter that lay on the floor.

Everyone fell silent, not being able to deny what Yerim was saying, as they had thought the same thing from the start, otherwise why would anyone want to do something like that to a café? They couldn’t help but think _that_ was why.

At some point, all the girls had arrived to the café. Everyone remained silent and stared at Yerim. It was the first time they saw her in that state, and seeing the always positive and radiant girl be so devastated was more than heartbreaking, the lump in the girls’ throats seemed to become thicker with the passing seconds.

Jiwoo’s body was completely still except for her head, that kept on moving from one girl to another with her eyes full of worry, waiting for the perfect moment to go and comfort them. She was most worried about the younger ones, but that was something everyone could agree with. Even if they all felt like their world was crashing down they were trying to hold back for the sake of the most sensitive ones.

That Sooyoung was completely silent was no help at all.

Hyunjin and Heejin were the last ones to arrive, and Kahei was quick to get to Hyunjin’s side, noticing how her eyes stated to water.

“It’s okay, I’m here”  
Hyunjin let her head fall to Kahei’s shoulder, and let out a quiet sob. “Why…”

As if a button had been pressed, almost everyone’s eyes started watering too. Heejin looked at her girlfriend, wishing she had been faster and that she was the one comforting her, but her own throat was hurting now and could feel how her breathing got ragged.

Sobs echoed through the café, and Jiwoo managed to get to Chaewon and Yeojin’s side, quickly wrapping her arms around both girls. Haseul was about to go in Yeojin’s direction too, but felt a hand on hers that made her step back.

Then she gave up and let herself cry on Jungeun’s shoulder, trusting that Jiwoo would take good care of Yeojin and giving in to her need to cry her heart out, seeing everyone else cry was too much for her.

Everyone waited for Sooyoung to say something, they _needed_ it.

“All of this…”

The girls’ sobs died down, and their hearts filled with hope after seeing that Sooyoung was about to say something, but maybe they shouldn’t have had their expectations so high.

“All of this has been a bad idea”

_Huh?_

“What do you mean, Sooyoung?” Jinsol asked, letting go of Hyejoo’s arm for a second, and as well as the other girls, being a bit uncertain about what she was going to say.

“The café. I should have known that something like this would happen sooner or later. I’m sorry”

Then everyone stopped crying for real, pretending not to understand what Sooyoung was implying. Some let out an incredulous laugh, others just fell silent. But what was for sure was that those few minutes of complete silence where the worst minutes of the girls’ lives.

They could feel their heart beating loud on their eardrums.

“But Sooyoung…” Jinsol said again “What do you mean the café has been a bad idea, we-”

“No, it’s wrong, and I have been _so_ immature. Now you are hurt and it’s all my fault, _this place shouldn’t have ever existed_.”  
Jiwoo turned her head forcefully to look at Sooyoung, not believing what her girlfriend had just said and let go of the two younger girls that were beside her.

“Sooyoung!”  
There was no response.

 

“What the hell, Sooyoung!?”

 

Everyone turned their heads to the source of the voice, and found a breathless Heejin, who stared at Sooyoung with defiant eyes.

“Please tell me you are not being serious…”  
Sooyoung, who all this time had been avoiding the other’s gazes, decided to stare back at Heejin. “I think I’ve been pretty clear.”  
“I…, Sooyoung…”  Heejin’s voice started shaking, and her eyes still showed the same rage from before. “Sooyoung, I was _so_ afraid”  
The girls were unsure about if they should stop Heejin or if they should let her talk, but no one had the strength to do something at that point, they were so tired.

“I was so afraid until I met you, I trusted you with everything. And you gave me this place and I seriously couldn’t have been any happier…”

Sooyoung stared at the ground.

“And now…, you are telling me that it has all been a mistake. That this place shouldn’t have ever existed… Do we…, do you really care about us, or…?”

“Heejin, that’s not-” Jiwoo was cut off by Heejin.  


“You know what, Ha Sooyoung? Fuck you”  
Heejin ran off, closing the door with a slam and leaving the girls appalled and unable to say a thing. All of them stared at Sooyoung, not angry, but heavily disappointed.

“I’ll talk to her” Hyunjin muttered, her voice sounding colder than ever. Kahei tried to stop her, but soon gave up when she understood that Hyunjin would prefer to be by her girlfriend’s side at a time like this. The girl just left the place, closing the door behind her way more slowly than Heejin did.

Jiwoo pulled Sooyoung’s shirt carefully “Hey, Sooyoung…”  
“No, Heejin is right, I shouldn’t have said something like that”

Everyone felt bad, because, on one hand they were as disappointed as Heejin was, and could feel why she was so angry at Sooyoung, but on the other hand, they knew she hadn’t  mean what she had said and that they were all so devastated that they could easily say anything without thinking.

Heejin’s grief was pretty understandable for everyone, they had witnessed how fragile she had been back then, they were quite aware of what Sooyoung meant to her, but all this time they had thought that she had already grown strong enough to stop depending on Sooyoung like that. They wondered if people were as easy to break as the ruined furniture in front of them were.

“Everything is going to be alright” Jiwoo whispered to Sooyoung’s ear. “We’ll repair everything with the insurance, okay? So don’t worry anymore”

But that wasn’t what Sooyoung wanted to hear, she didn’t care about the money or how much would it cost to repair the whole place, but she was worried about all of the girls, and she didn’t know what to do. Heejin wasn’t the only one who was disappointed in Sooyoung.

She really wasn’t as ready for this as she had thought, she wasn’t strong at all.

“Sooyoung” A soft voice could be heard then, it was Hyejoo’s “I’ll do anything to help, but please, let’s not get angry at each other anymore”  
Hyejoo’s words were so pure and honest that immediately made the girls feel better, even bring soft smiles to their faces. And Hyejoo was right, getting angry would be no good.

“Come on, let’s not think about this anymore. Sooyoung this is not your fault, okay?”  Chaewon’s voice was as soft as Hyejoo’s, and it made Sooyoung finally step out of her daze and realize that that behavior of hers was not good for the younger ones to witness. She finally understood that life was testing her and that it was finally time to help the girls she treasured so much, it was the moment she had been preparing herself for all this time.

For some seconds she stood still, staring deeply at everyone’s eyes, contemplating what she should do next and doubting that the girls still trusted her. And she still came upon the usual sincere smiles from the girls.

Then, before she could actually say something, some familiar voices were heard coming from outside the café. “Watch out, the dustpan is about to fall”  
The voices were followed by a brief clonk, and a second after the door was being opened.

The two girls were carrying an old barrow, that contained various tools such as dustpans and brooms, and even some shovels too. They were both sweating from carrying the heavy tools all the way there, but they were both laughing, as they wiped the sweat from their forehead.

“Heejin, Hyunjin… what are you…” Jiwoo couldn’t believe her eyes, and she didn’t think the others could either.

“Well, this place isn’t going to clean itself” Heejin said, groaning while putting the barrow down on the floor.

It was strange, but every face on the café lit up, tears of joy bathed everyone’s eyes and they all started feeling better at the sudden reappearance of both girls, and no one missed how Sooyoung’s eyes widened at seeing Heejin, they even noticed the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.

“You are right…” Haseul wiped her tears away and let out a soft chuckle. “Give me that broom” She skipped happily towards Heejin and Hyunjin, and took the tool between her hands.

The others stole glances at each other hesitating a bit, but finally deciding to join Haseul and get on with it.

“Hey, let’s go Yerim.” Yeojin said softly, talking to a still upset Yerim, which little by little was easing the furrow on her forehead. She sighed, and gave in to the smile appearing on her face.

In a matter of seconds they all had their hands busy, and moved through the café, deciding what could be done and getting started with the task. Still, Sooyoung was unable to move, looking at how the girls were occupying themselves without her being able to do anything, once again everyone surprised her. But most importantly, there was Heejin, and Sooyoung felt like she owed her an explanation.

The café was small enough for everyone to hear. “Heejin…”

“Hm?” Heejin raised her head, looking at Sooyoung with a smile, as if nothing had happened, as if she had completely forgotten about Sooyoung’s cold words from before.

“I think I owe you an explanation…” Everyone stopped what they were doing, and listened to Sooyoung even if she was talking to Heejin. “First of all I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have acted so cold, especially now.”

Heejin listened, her own face showing regret.

“When I said this was all a mistake I didn’t mean it like that” Sooyoung’s voice hadn’t ever sounded so sad, and Jiwoo smiled bitterly, because she understood her, and knew what she had really meant by those words. “I know it hurts you all but this isn’t going the way I wanted… As you already know, my purpose with this café was to make a place where you could meet new people, you know? Just to facilitate things, as Jiwoo and I were lucky but not everybody is… At first everything was fine, but then I started taking in people who weren’t fine, and that’s when everything started getting out of my hands. This café stopped being a fun place and ended up becoming something similar to a trench for most of you, and I never wanted that”

The girls listened, but some of them couldn’t understand everything Sooyoung was trying to say. “What Sooyoung means…” Jiwoo sighed bitterly “Is that she wants you to face the world as it is, and not hide yourselves here in this lame café. That it’s a place where you can meet people and still have fun, even fall in love” She stopped to offer Heejin and Hyunjin a warm smile “But by no means depend on it as your only escape…”

The girls nodded, especially the ones whose message was directed to, and they truly understood, there was no reason for being stubborn.

“Yeah… But most importantly” Sooyoung picked up what Jiwoo was saying and continued with her speech. “The world isn’t as bad as you think…, it’s just that some of you really had back luck and I’m so sorry for that”

Haseul wanted to add something, but hesitated a bit, thinking that Sooyoung was the one who should talk, however the latter gave an approving nod, letting Haseul express herself. “Sooyoung is right, things aren’t really that bad… and you really should believe that”

Some already knew this, but it was obvious that others didn’t until now, and the ones who did looked at the others with reassuring smiles, hoping the message had reached them.

A sniffle echoed through the place, and everyone looked at Heejin. “I should apologize too… Sooyoung”

Sooyoung walked slowly towards Heejin and hugged her “It’s okay, Heejin… I understand. But did you get what I just said?”

Heejin nodded and wiped her tears away, looking up to meet Sooyoung’s smile. “I…no, _we_ owe you a lot…”  
She let go of the girl in her arms and scratched her head, trying not to shed any tear, pretending to be tough.

“No, it’s me the one that owes you all a lo-”

“You are a fucking hero, Ha Sooyoung” Heejin smiled, and almost burst into laughter when Sooyoung finally let a loud sob out of her throat.

“Group hug!”  
At Jinsol’s yell everyone ran towards Sooyoung almost jumping and crashing into each other, the hug didn’t take long to become suffocating, though, and most of them backed off after a few seconds, laughing breathlessly.

Sooyoung couldn’t stop crying, so Jiwoo cupped her cheeks and squeezed them, forcing her to look up, “Come on, let’s get this done” Sooyoung nodded and grabbed one of the dustpans, still sniffling and making the girls smile.

In a matter of minutes, everyone was busy cleaning somewhere, picking up broken glass carefully and throwing away unusable stuff, while others just focused on sweeping and mopping the floor. Somehow, everyone was in high spirits again, and they occasionally joked around and laughed while getting their tasks done, it was a really strange sight. From time to time a cloth would flew around the place and hit somebody in the face, things like that.

Minutes became hours, and it was almost evening but the café was far for being clean, the girls were almost panting at that point.

“Hey” Jinsol and Hyejoo approached Jungeun and Haseul, who were in charge of cleaning the kitchen. “Leave this to us, go and take a breather outside”

Truth be told, Jungeun and Haseul had worked the hardest and they were clearly worn out, so the idea of resting for a bit was more than appealing. Jungeun left the mop against the wall and stretched her arms. “Okay, thank you girls”  
“Thanks, let’s go to the terrace” Haseul said, making Jungeun follow her outside.

“God, this is so exhausting” Jungeun groaned, taking in the outside air, that wasn’t as heavy as the dusty air from the café.

Haseul laughed and nodded, “Yeah, but I’m having fun, somehow”

Jungeun looked at the girl beside her. “Well, okay…, I admit I’m having fun too. It’s weird, considering the situation”  
Haseul let out a chuckle that was as bitter as warm “We are a group of weirdos, I swear…”  
They both fell silent for a bit, thinking about everything that had happened, things were about to get emotional.

“For a moment back then I thought… That everything was going to fall apart, you know? When Heejin ran off I thought I wasn’t going to see her anymore”  
“Come on, don’t be like that. Things like these happen sometimes.” Haseul was trying to ease the worry in Jungeun’s heart but the girl didn’t look too happy, she was still sad about all that happened, and the simple thought of the group falling out was enough to make her more anxious. Haseul saw the change in Jungeun’s expression and changed her choice of words. “Well, I was afraid too…, I didn’t think something like this would happen, and at some point I feared that our bond wasn’t strong enough to go through this together, I really feel so bad for thinking that”

Jungeun gave the other girl an apologetic smile, blaming herself for bringing their worries out once again. All this would definitely leave an impact, but Jungeun was sure they could get over it if they were all together, she wanted that thought to reach Haseul. “Yeah, but here we are. I think that nothing can stop us now, don’t you think this is the kind of thing that makes us stronger?”  
Haseul looked at Jungeun, who was staring at her with a toothy smile, it made her heart skip a beat. She laughed. “It always amazes me, how we can all be so close even if we don’t know each other for long”

“I don’t think time matters” Jungeun said.

Haseul thought that she was right. That’s what she liked the most about Jungeun, she had a careless side but she also was a person that took good care of others. She would easily laugh everything off , but on the other hand, she had a very sensitive heart. She would be always there if you needed her, but always in a sensible way, not letting her emotions take over her. Maybe Haseul really needed someone like her.

“I’m really glad that I met all of you”

Haseul almost spoke in a whisper, recalling all the good times and all the girls’ smiles.

Jungeun breathed in, a bit shakily.

“Yeah…” Jungeun started, and Haseul tilted her head at the sudden stutter. “And I’m glad I met _you_ ”

“Huh _?_ -”

Just when Haseul had turned her head to look at Jungeun she felt her lips on hers, catching Haseul off guard in a way in which she couldn’t even move.

“I’m sorry, I-” Jungeun pulled away in an instant and panicked, but Haseul put her right hand on the back of Jungeun’s head and went for another kiss, not letting the girl finish, and soon bringing both of her hands up to Jungeun’s jaw, deepening the kiss. She had waited so much for _this_ she wasn’t letting Jungeun go.

Haseul was eventually the one to break the kiss, still not letting go of Jungeun’s face and keeping their faces close. “Why did we take so long to do this?”  Jungeun’s words came out as a whisper, as she was still trying to catch her breath.

“We are idiots”

Jungeun kissed Haseul again, cupping her face softly and feeling the soft flesh of her cheeks beneath her hands. “Haseul, I. Like you. A lot.” Jungeun let the words escape her mouth in-between kisses, making the other girl giggle at every word. They were really idiots for taking so long.

“Girls do you know where-”

Heejin suddenly walked in and froze, looking at the girls in front of her with eyes opening wide. “What…”  
Jungeun and Haseul didn’t even need to turn around to check they had been caught, they just closed their eyes and knitted their eyebrows, waiting for what soon would follow. “Oh my god…yes!”

Jungeun and Haseul sighed, not even bothering to stop Heejin, who started shouting not much later. “It’s finally happening!”

So, apparently everyone already knew except for them, they weren’t surprised, though. They were sure that the next few weeks would consist in the girls making fun of them endlessly, both Jungeun and Haseul were already picturing what would happen.

“Please Heejin don’t tell the others…” Haseul didn’t even try to make her voice reach Heejin’s ears, she wasn’t even in the terrace anymore, Heejin had really gone back inside just to yell the news to everyone. Jungeun and Haseul looked at each other, and ended up laughing. They kept staring at each other for some more seconds, the cheeks of both girls colored in soft pink tones and the corners of their mouth formed warm smiles. Only then were they aware of their heart rate, and couldn’t help but wonder how couldn’t have noticed the other’s feelings earlier, it all seemed so obvious now that they knew.

“Should we go back inside?” Jungeun asked, her voice softer than ever.

“Yeah” Haseul gave a quick peck on Jungeun’s lips and went back in, trying her best to hide the blush on her face, but failing to hide the big smile that her mouth had formed.

She grabbed the nearest broom and walked back towards the kitchen, where Jinsol and Hyejoo were. Jinsol blinked at the sudden change in Haseul’s expression, trying to figure out the reason of it.

“What’s with that big smile?” Jinsol laughed, walking in Haseul’s direction. “What smile?” Haseul laughed nervously, making Jinsol raise an eyebrow suspiciously.

Just then, Jungeun entered the kitchen looking pretty much the same as the older girl and immediately meeting the curious face of Jinsol, her smile disappearing in fear.

“What’s with you two…?”

“Huh? Nothing” Jungeun grabbed a mop and began sweeping the floor, avoiding Jinsol’s stare.

Jinsol hated not being aware of things, she was sure something was going on, she had known Jungeun for ages, that smile definitely meant something. She got closer to Jungeun, eyeing Haseul briefly, who was occupying herself somewhere at the back of the kitchen, and whispered to the blonde’s ear. “Hey… did something happen between you two?”

Jungeun’s lips formed a triumphal grin and her mouth let out a proud chuckle “Who knows”

Jinsol covered her mouth with her right hand, almost letting out a surprised yell. “You can’t be serious, finally after all this time…” Jungeun pouted, too happy to get mad at her friend. “I knew you would say something like that”

“Okay, but are you two dating now or what?” Jinsol asked, and took Jungeun by surprise, because they hadn’t really talked about it, they just kissed and Jungeun was stupid enough to think that she shouldn’t be assuming things so fast, so now she wasn’t sure. “I… don’t know?”

“What do you mean you don’t know!?” Jinsol hadn’t intended to shout, but it made Haseul look at them with a raised eyebrow. Jungeun hit her with her elbow, hoping it was enough to make the other girl stop asking.

But now that that question had entered Jungeun’s mind she could no longer stop thinking about it. Well, they kissed, so that definitely had to mean something, but what if Haseul didn’t want more than that?

Jungeun was thinking too much again. She sighed and looked at Haseul, who smiled shyly. Jinsol rolled her eyes.

“Well, I’ll leave you in charge of the kitchen” Jinsol walked towards the door, after stealing a glance at Jungeun one last time.

The door closed and they were left alone again, they immediately tried to avoid awkwardness and Jungeun still wanted to ask Haseul about them. “Hey, Haseul…”  
Haseul was emptying the dustpan in one of the trash bags and put it back down when she heard the girl’s voice. “Hm?”  
“About earlier…” She laughed softly, and if Jinsol saw her face she would probably say she looked like an idiot. “Well, I… have had feelings for you for quite long, to be honest”

Haseul smiled and blushed a little, she was happy that they were finally talking about how they felt. “Yeah, me too… Thinking about how oblivious we both have been is embarrassing” Haseul laughed, covering part of her face with the palm of her hand. “I’m sure everyone else knew already, I can’t believe us”

“Yeah…” Jungeun scratched the back of her neck nervously, but smiled nonetheless. “I was wondering... what does this make us? I mean…”

“You are so silly, Jungeun” Haseul let out an amused giggle, and Jungeun’s heart did a little flip at the sound of her own name escaping Haseul’s mouth. “It makes us whatever you want, but to be honest…”

Haseul got closer to Jungeun, as to not miss any change in the other girl’s expression. “I would prefer it to be something more than friends, you know?” Jungeun was sure her heart just stopped, at how sweet the blush in Haseul’s cheeks was and how warm her voice sounded, she definitely had been thinking too much, and she deeply regretted not having kissed her sooner.

She hugged the smaller girl, realizing it was the first time she did so and realizing that Haseul was as warm as she had expected her to be. “You are so cute, it’s not fair…” Jungeun hugged her tightly. “You know? ‘girlfriends’ sounds good for me” She almost cringed at the words leaving her mouth, but they kind of seemed right if they were directed towards Haseul.

“Then it’s decided” Haseul said between giggles, “Oh, and you are definitely the cute one, so stop pretending to be so cool” She hit Jungeun’s shoulder playfully, gaining a pout from her. “Okay, okay”

They looked at the clock in one of the kitchen’s walls and decided to go back to the cleaning, but soon realized that the kitchen was far for being completely clean, and guessed the rest of the café would be in a similar state.

Just then, Sooyoung appeared, a thin layer of sweat covered her forehead due to the many hours of cleaning and a grin showed on her face at seeing the two girls, Heejin had probably told everyone about Jungeun and Haseul at that point.

“I think this is enough for today, you have helped a lot, thank you” Sooyoung gave both girls her most sincere smile. “Really, thank you”

“Sooyoung, it’s okay. It’s the least we could do” Haseul tapped the taller girl’s shoulder kindly and walked out of the kitchen, soon meeting the other girls, who were as exhausted as her.

They were all in the same room again, but now several hours had passed and the expressions on her faces were completely different. Ruffled hair and dust in their faces.

“We’ve done everything we could” Sooyoung said taking one last look around the café. “The café will remain closed for some weeks…”

Everyone fell silent, all of them with the same question at the tip of their tongues. Fearing that those weeks Sooyoung talked about would end up meaning forever, Sooyoung was fast to catch a glimpse of the worry in everyone’s faces.

“We have to buy new furniture and hire someone to repair all this mess…” The girls seemed to relax after the clarification, their shoulders went back to their normal position after a deep sigh. “I know I’ve already said this, but thank you, to all of you…”  
The girls stared at the ground, smiling softly. “If you hadn’t been here with me…”

“Sooyoung, let’s forget about all of this, okay?” Heejin said softly. “When it’s about all of us I’d rather remember just the good moments, you know? We have been having so much fun until now, and I don’t want to lose that”

Everyone else felt the same, just for one bad thing they wouldn’t throw away every good memory before that. If there was something they all knew, was that it was useless to regret and being sad about things.

“Heejin is right…” Haseul whispered.

“Sooyoung, promise us you’ll call if you need help, okay?” Jungeun said, making Sooyoung nod sincerely.

“Let’s celebrate it when things are back to normality, okay? I miss meeting up with all of you” Sooyoung proposed, gaining approving smiles from the other girls.

“Of course!”

“We have to talk about a lot of things, don’t we?” Jinsol eyed Jungeun and Haseul, who just avoided her gaze. The girls let out amused giggles, apparently Heejin had made sure the news reached everyone’s ears, so there was no point in hiding it.

Jiwoo got closer to Chaewon and whispered in her ear. “You and Hyejoo are next, I believe in you” Chaewon just blushed, but if she was being honest, the fact that Haseul and Jungeun were finally together gave her a big confidence boost, maybe less stuttering and blushing would help her being honest about her feelings and actually making them reach Hyejoo.

“Whatever” Jungeun said “Call us when the café opens again, okay?”

Jiwoo and Sooyoung nodded, while her hands intertwined. “We will” Jiwoo said, looking at her watch. “You should go home, you have already done a lot”

The girls stretched their arms and yawned, looking one last time at the place surrounding them and letting out a bitter sigh. “I know it’s not going to be for long, but I’ll miss this place” Yerim said, walking slowly towards the door and being followed by the others.

As the girls walked outside the café they felt the cold air hitting their faces, much colder than the summer breeze of when they all got to know each other, they smiled at the thought of how many things happened back then and a warm feeling spread through their lungs, a warmth that resembled a lot more those summer days and made them forget that they were actually in November and that winter was just around the corner.

Sooyoung and Jiwoo bid the girls farewell, watching as they eventually disappeared. A lot of things happened in the last months, and a lot more would happen from now on, but now Sooyoung would be ready for whatever was to come, after all, she had eleven girls beside her, so everything would be fine.

Jiwoo looked at her girlfriend, and squeezed her hand more tightly.

“I love you, Sooyoung”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s it. I’m planning on writing more fics, but for the moment I think I’ll focus on writing one shots, I would really appreciate if you read them too :D


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